Rüdiger Wenk aka Phonoschrank has been involved in interdisciplinary creation in art for 20 years. Both as a video and noise artist he:she was able to gain rich experience in the international interdisciplinary environment.
To consolidate his:her self-image as an artist, Rüdiger Wenk began to conduct scientific and artistic research. At the Humboldt University in Berlin, he:she studied social philosophy with Prof. Rahel Jaeggi, Schizophonic with Dr. Florian Schreiner, and cybernetics with Prof. Horst Völz.
The relationship of sound to other art forms in artistic practice was the main question that emerged from his studies. In other words: „Sound as a component of performative and visual art“.
He:She investigated the performative aspect among others in Japan with different Butoh teachers. (A part of Butoh is a form of avant-garde Japanese dance). He is particularly interested in the relationship between sound and movement in improvisation.
After his:her return from Japan, he devoted himself to the visual arts. Especially painting. In the master class of Prof. Thomas Zipp, he:she led workshops, curated exhibitions, and started experimenting in the field of interdisciplinary simultaneous creation of painting and sound. In parallel, he began to share his artistic experience and knowledge as a lecturer in various disciplines both in the Studium Generale at the Berlin University of the Arts and in research-based teaching at other universities.
During a mentoring in the class for „Dynamic Acoustic Research“ of Prof. Jan Werner at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, he:she encountered for the first time the task of adequately interpreting in sound a graphic created by chance and error. In his:her search for a suitable form of notation in music, he encountered graphic notation beginning with the neumes via, among others, John Cage, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and ending with Earle Brown’s abstract visual reference.
Earle Brown’s „abstract visual reference“ in his:her cycle „Folio“ inspired him to adapt this form of notation for his research field „sound as a component of visual art.“
The insights gained from research-based teaching on the topic of „abstract visual reference“ in the summer semester of 2021 led him to the first public presentation of his topic in the context of a collaboration with the Austrian Miller-Zillmer Foundation (Vienna), the Modular Synthesizer Ensemble (Vienna) and the international synthesizer fair „Superbooth“ (Berlin).
In the summer semester of 2022, Rüdiger Wenk was allowed to teach at the Institute for Media and Music Studies in a research-based seminar with the topic of
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The Sonification of Abstract Visual References.
A media theoretical approach to Abstract Visual Reference under the aspects of Sonic Media Archaeology and Media Aesthetics.
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in master’s programs in media studies and musicology.
Currently, as artistic director, he:she forms the ensemble „a200ms“. Public presentations (in a sense, a simultaneous exhibition, and concert) of the ensemble are intended to promote the perception of interdisciplinary art forms, stimulate criticism and discourse, and bring avant-garde sounds into the context of the visual arts.
The experience and knowledge gained so far in teaching and research form the basis to go public with such an innovative project with experienced and inspired painters and musicians accompanied by an adequate art historian.