About

Phono-Bau is a collaborative research project (and a composition) that sets out to explore the role of music and sound in the synergy of arts having as a starting point Bauhaus’ modernism. The aim is to identify the aesthetics and music composition elements that have characterized modernism: from the geometric movements of Oscar Schlemmer’s man/machine dancers (Triadisches Ballett – music composed by Paul Hindemith) to Kraftwerk’s Robots.

The first part of the project will focus on the analysis of selected works identified with modernism and which are benchmarks for multimedia artistic creation. The participant artists will meet in Düsseldorf in order to discuss the research and draw preliminary conclusions about the music/sound patterns of the analyzed compositions. The capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia is the cradle of Krautrock and an important node in the map of contemporary electronic music. Moreover, most members of avant-garde electronic acts from Düsseldorf (e.g. Cluster, Kraftwerk, Neu, Kreidler, Tolouse Low Trax, Lena Willikens), have a background in fine arts or architecture and have developed projects that blur the boundaries between music and other artistic forms.

During the course of the project the artists will exchange knowledge and ideas over an online communication space accessible to the broader public. As such, the work-in-progress will be registered in the format of a web diary. In the second phase the artists will develop an original music composition based on the findings of the study. This music piece will be performed live in Athens accompanied by a presentation of the documented research.

The title of the project is a reference to Bauhaus teacher László Moholy-Nagy’s “Photograms”. While this technique left ghostly traces on the photographic “canvas”, the Phono-Bau idea is to construct a music composition out of the pieces of modernism.

The project will be carried out by musician-sound artist and architect Thalia Ioannidou; architect and musician Lefteris Theodosis; electronic musician and producer Stefan Schneider.