VEKTOR - Memories in Light & Sound
VEKTOR is the latest audiovisual installation by international light artist Christopher Bauder at Kraftwerk Berlin. In his most personal work to date, Bauder fuses kinetic light from 50 moving lasers with a self-composed three-dimensional soundscape to create a synaesthetic work of art. Moments and memories from his life are processed into an abstract light art experience.
Visitors are submerged in a wondrously fascinating sound and imagescape. With VEKTOR at Kraftwerk Berlin, Bauder is also returning to one of his absolute favourite venues. After SKALAR and DEEP WEB, VEKTOR is his third monumental installation in this unique industrial cathedral.
ARTWORK
A large-scale kinetic light art installation
As a tribute to his fascination with mathematical principles, VEKTOR completes a triptych that Bauder began in 2018 with SKALAR at Kraftwerk and continued in 2023 with the outdoor installation TENSOR in his permanent exhibition DARK MATTER. SKALAR was an emotional journey, TENSOR transported the viewer to an alien world. Now Bauder is returning to himself and showing a large-scale experiment that explores his own world of thoughts and feelings.
For the first time, Bauder has also composed the multi-channel soundtrack to his installation himself. Sound elements are woven into the three-dimensional musical worlds of VEKTOR, recapitulating his previous work and outlining his path into the future. The distant church bells take us back to Bauder's childhood in the countryside, the sound of the sea takes us to his island of longing and the references to early techno tracks illustrate the nights spent clubbing in the Berlin underground of the late 90s.
The architectural spatial sculptures made of iridescent laser light, which are closely linked to the soundtrack, lead far into an unknown, luminous future. In a previously impossible way, a multitude of light sources moving in space are woven into a single, almost living organism of pure light. Bauder's lifelong fascination and work with the most diverse types of light culminates here at the limits of human imagination and technical feasibility.
Photos: Ralph Larmann / Eric Bauermeister
Video: Gerrit Piechowski
The transformative power of VEKTOR can be experienced in two different ways: exhibition and live performance
The exhibition runs continuously, without a defined beginning or end. It has a meditative character and invites visitors to dwell indefinitely, to walk around, sit or lie on the floor and remove themselves as far as possible from everyday life and the outside world.
The exhibition is a full-body experience that invites visitors to explore the entire space with the installation and the constantly changing flow of light, movement and sound from all sides.
As a special highlight, Christopher Bauder presents a few exclusive VEKTOR live performances together with several guest musicians. In the live shows, Bauder unveils an extended version of the art installation in terms of time and content, which follows a concert-like dramaturgy. Bauder himself is at the controls to modulate both the visual and musical parameters of the installation live.
The live shows have a dramaturgical development in which ambient and beat-driven sections alternate. This is based on a classic concert setting with a defined beginning and end. The close connection between beats, cinematic sound design and performative visuals plays a central role when Christopher Bauder and his fellow musicians interact with light and sound in real time. No two performances are the same.
EXHIBITION & PERFORMANCE
Project cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP
VEKTOR is supported by the Fraunhofer network "Science, Art and Design". This includes a partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP - VEKTOR therefore reflects the fusion of art and science. The collaboration creates and explores a link between acoustics, art and human experience.
Fraunhofer IBP's expertise in room acoustics and digital acoustics enabled a precise acoustic measurement of the venue to create a realistic and immersive three-dimensional sound mix for VEKTOR at Kraftwerk Berlin.
In addition, acoustic simulations of the state-of-the-art sound system were carried out in advance to ensure a dynamic and three-dimensional listening experience throughout the exhibition space.
Furthermore, VEKTOR's immersive soundscape combines recorded samples from the former power plant with Fraunhofer IBP's sound library, which has been collecting sounds for over 90 years.
Fraunhofer IBP will also conduct a scientific study during the VEKTOR exhibition. The reactions of visitors will be analysed in order to better understand the effects of engaging with art on well-being and aesthetic perception.
COOPERATION
With an area of over 2000 sqm, VEKTOR is Bauder's largest indoor light art installation. An installation as technically complex and unique as VEKTOR is only possible through collaboration with outstanding technical partners, whose extensive expertise helps to push the boundaries of what is possible.
The art and design studio WHITEvoid is responsible for the production of the entire event and the development of the customized control software.
The manufacturer of electric motorized winches KINETIC LIGHTS has developed a new, powerful precision motorized winch system especially for this installation, which can simultaneously move 50 high-performance lasers synchronously in space with millimeter precision.
The three-dimensional spatial sound experience is made possible by a special sound processor and a 30-channel L-ISA sound system from L-Acoustics.
The right atmosphere in Kraftwerk is created by hazers from MDG, the world market leader for atmospheric effects. This is the only way to make the laser beams visible without obscuring the view of the artwork.
TECHNOLOGY PARTNER
PRODUCTION
COOPERATION
MEDIA PARTNER
SUPPORTERS
