Paper & Sound
Fundamental to human communication, paper and sound are intertwined with the ways in which we record, consume, and interpret our world. The group exhibition Paper & Sound explores these two ubiquitous, but often overlooked materials. Sound precedes and shapes language, forming the foundation of oral traditions, music, and speech. Paper, though seemingly modest, carries histories that range from the mundane to the sacred. Its versatility allows it to serve countless functions, from the most ephemeral (a napkin) to the most enduring (books, currency). Eight artists present works that explore paper and sound as starting points, inviting viewers to consider their role in shaping and transmitting memory, knowledge, and history鈥攐r simply to engage with these materials on a sensory level. The exhibition extends beyond the visual, drawing attention to the oral, verbal, tactile, and auditory, urging close listening, keen observation, and full sensory engagement.
Ulf Aminde鈥檚 work is created by repetitively stamping cut potatoes onto a large paper surface, drawing on a symbol deeply embedded in German history. Native to the Americas, the potato became a cornerstone of German agriculture and diet after Frederick the Great famously promoted it in the 18th century to prevent famine, cementing its status as a lasting cultural emblem. From a distance, the piece appears as a hypnotic, abstract, colorful pattern, but up close, the texture and translucence of the stamped impressions resemble fingerprint marks found on official documents. This evokes another symbol of German identity: bureaucracy. Though sound is not explicitly present in this piece, the act of stamping evokes an auditory presence, suggesting the monotonous sound of rubber stamps in public offices and reflecting the tedium of administrative processes. In this context, stamps acquire significance beyond their mechanical function, symbolizing the critical, often painful role of official documentation. For many, particularly immigrants in Germany, a stamp can determine the difference between safety and exclusion. Aminde frequently explores how bureaucratic systems shape and constrain lives through video and collaborative artworks. In this piece, however, he works from the solitude of his studio.
What鈥檚 Left of Us? is a collaborative installation by Annabel Daou and Fritjof Mangerich, comprising two paper speakers鈥攃rafted from shredded paper and cast from real speakers鈥攕uspended in delicate paper nets made of microfiber paper. The speakers emit recordings of Daou鈥檚 voice, reading fragments of responses gathered from interviews with friends, acquaintances, and strangers in response to the question, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 left of us?鈥� The entire white composition, set against a white background, becomes nearly invisible, evoking the intangible nature of sound itself. Daou and Mangerich鈥檚 work is united by a shared commitment to meticulous, labor-intensive processes. In What鈥檚 Left of Us?, the combination of sound and paper is uniquely explicit within the exhibition. Suspended in the delicate nets, the paper speakers embody a palpable sense of fragility. This fragility reflects the impermanence of both language and memory. Through the question 鈥淲hat鈥檚 left of us?鈥� the work prompts contemplation of identity, loss, and what endures over time.
Elisa Giardina Papa鈥檚 Leaking Subjects and Bounding Boxes: On Training AI is a paper installation based on images featured in her book of the same title. These images were collected during her time as a human trainer for AI vision systems, where she processed thousands of images for machine learning algorithms. As a 鈥渄ata cleaner,鈥� she began collecting images that resisted AI鈥檚 impulse to categorize and classify鈥攃apturing moments that defied any clear, definable order. A selection of these images is glued to a blue wall, with visible bubbles and uneven textures emphasizing the materiality of the paper itself. The installation highlights paper鈥檚 dual function: both as a vessel of knowledge preservation (as in books) and as a medium that exposes the limitations of classificatory systems. Through this work, the artist draws attention to the unruly and elusive nature of that which refuses to be neatly defined or contained.
Grit Richter鈥檚 soft pastel on paper works, while retaining the glowing luminosity and precision of line characteristic of her oil paintings, invite a more intimate engagement. Richter uses shades of indigo, blues, purples, and touches of lime yellow to create an evocative and mysterious abstraction. The central divided form carries a surreal quality, while also evoking scientific or biological illustrations. The division suggests duality. Is this division productive, reproductive, or destructive? Anything is possible. The surrounding undulating waves allude to sound waves or the ripple of something falling in liquid, linking the materiality of paper with the intangible nature of sound.
Anna Steinert鈥檚 mask integrates paper elements, derived from lithographs in cobalt blue, orange, and black from her time in Sweden, with plaster and fabric to form the mask鈥檚 structure. The lithographs are marked with gestural scribbles, reflecting the immediacy of Steinert鈥檚 painterly approach, and creating a bridge between her drawing and painting practice and her sculptural work. For Steinert, masks are intrinsically linked to performance, theater, and ritual. Through this medium, she invites viewers to see the mask as a vessel for sound, communication, and transformation. Echoing the concept of persona from ancient theater, the mask does not conceal but amplifies鈥攊t is the channel through which the character鈥檚 voice resonates. The question remains: What ritual would this mask accompany? What voice or sound might emerge from its mouth made of rope?
Angelika J. Trojnarski鈥檚 Lumi猫re Lib茅r茅e series is inspired by her own experiments with prisms, alongside the color theories of Isaac Newton and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The prisms, painted in vibrant hues on thick gray cardboard, represent the dispersion of white light into its component colors. Newton鈥檚 scientific approach examines light鈥檚 spectrum objectively, while Goethe鈥檚 more emotional perspective links colors to psychological qualities. This contrast between rational science and subjective experience forms the core of Trojnarski鈥檚 work. The gray background amplifies the colors, enhancing their vibrancy and altering their perception, connecting the material of paper with the perception of light.
Anna Witt鈥檚 Crushed and Melted is a collage that blends visual and auditory elements to explore the dissolution of the human form. The piece is composed of the remnants of a preceding ASMR performance, in which artist methodically destroyed everyday objects such as clothing, phones, books, and bags. These fragmented materials are then reassembled into loose, human-shaped forms, sandwiched between two sheets of plexiglass. This work builds on her earlier performative installation Soft Destructions, shifting the focus from the room to the body and the objects it interacts with. The sculptures are paired with recorded ASMR sounds from the destruction process, immersing viewers in an intimate sensory experience. Through these pieces, Witt examines the complex relationship between destruction and care, reflecting on how emotional closeness can emerge from seemingly destructive actions, while also engaging with themes of media, intimacy, and distance in the digital age.
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Fundamental to human communication, paper and sound are intertwined with the ways in which we record, consume, and interpret our world. The group exhibition Paper & Sound explores these two ubiquitous, but often overlooked materials. Sound precedes and shapes language, forming the foundation of oral traditions, music, and speech. Paper, though seemingly modest, carries histories that range from the mundane to the sacred. Its versatility allows it to serve countless functions, from the most ephemeral (a napkin) to the most enduring (books, currency). Eight artists present works that explore paper and sound as starting points, inviting viewers to consider their role in shaping and transmitting memory, knowledge, and history鈥攐r simply to engage with these materials on a sensory level. The exhibition extends beyond the visual, drawing attention to the oral, verbal, tactile, and auditory, urging close listening, keen observation, and full sensory engagement.
Ulf Aminde鈥檚 work is created by repetitively stamping cut potatoes onto a large paper surface, drawing on a symbol deeply embedded in German history. Native to the Americas, the potato became a cornerstone of German agriculture and diet after Frederick the Great famously promoted it in the 18th century to prevent famine, cementing its status as a lasting cultural emblem. From a distance, the piece appears as a hypnotic, abstract, colorful pattern, but up close, the texture and translucence of the stamped impressions resemble fingerprint marks found on official documents. This evokes another symbol of German identity: bureaucracy. Though sound is not explicitly present in this piece, the act of stamping evokes an auditory presence, suggesting the monotonous sound of rubber stamps in public offices and reflecting the tedium of administrative processes. In this context, stamps acquire significance beyond their mechanical function, symbolizing the critical, often painful role of official documentation. For many, particularly immigrants in Germany, a stamp can determine the difference between safety and exclusion. Aminde frequently explores how bureaucratic systems shape and constrain lives through video and collaborative artworks. In this piece, however, he works from the solitude of his studio.
What鈥檚 Left of Us? is a collaborative installation by Annabel Daou and Fritjof Mangerich, comprising two paper speakers鈥攃rafted from shredded paper and cast from real speakers鈥攕uspended in delicate paper nets made of microfiber paper. The speakers emit recordings of Daou鈥檚 voice, reading fragments of responses gathered from interviews with friends, acquaintances, and strangers in response to the question, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 left of us?鈥� The entire white composition, set against a white background, becomes nearly invisible, evoking the intangible nature of sound itself. Daou and Mangerich鈥檚 work is united by a shared commitment to meticulous, labor-intensive processes. In What鈥檚 Left of Us?, the combination of sound and paper is uniquely explicit within the exhibition. Suspended in the delicate nets, the paper speakers embody a palpable sense of fragility. This fragility reflects the impermanence of both language and memory. Through the question 鈥淲hat鈥檚 left of us?鈥� the work prompts contemplation of identity, loss, and what endures over time.
Elisa Giardina Papa鈥檚 Leaking Subjects and Bounding Boxes: On Training AI is a paper installation based on images featured in her book of the same title. These images were collected during her time as a human trainer for AI vision systems, where she processed thousands of images for machine learning algorithms. As a 鈥渄ata cleaner,鈥� she began collecting images that resisted AI鈥檚 impulse to categorize and classify鈥攃apturing moments that defied any clear, definable order. A selection of these images is glued to a blue wall, with visible bubbles and uneven textures emphasizing the materiality of the paper itself. The installation highlights paper鈥檚 dual function: both as a vessel of knowledge preservation (as in books) and as a medium that exposes the limitations of classificatory systems. Through this work, the artist draws attention to the unruly and elusive nature of that which refuses to be neatly defined or contained.
Grit Richter鈥檚 soft pastel on paper works, while retaining the glowing luminosity and precision of line characteristic of her oil paintings, invite a more intimate engagement. Richter uses shades of indigo, blues, purples, and touches of lime yellow to create an evocative and mysterious abstraction. The central divided form carries a surreal quality, while also evoking scientific or biological illustrations. The division suggests duality. Is this division productive, reproductive, or destructive? Anything is possible. The surrounding undulating waves allude to sound waves or the ripple of something falling in liquid, linking the materiality of paper with the intangible nature of sound.
Anna Steinert鈥檚 mask integrates paper elements, derived from lithographs in cobalt blue, orange, and black from her time in Sweden, with plaster and fabric to form the mask鈥檚 structure. The lithographs are marked with gestural scribbles, reflecting the immediacy of Steinert鈥檚 painterly approach, and creating a bridge between her drawing and painting practice and her sculptural work. For Steinert, masks are intrinsically linked to performance, theater, and ritual. Through this medium, she invites viewers to see the mask as a vessel for sound, communication, and transformation. Echoing the concept of persona from ancient theater, the mask does not conceal but amplifies鈥攊t is the channel through which the character鈥檚 voice resonates. The question remains: What ritual would this mask accompany? What voice or sound might emerge from its mouth made of rope?
Angelika J. Trojnarski鈥檚 Lumi猫re Lib茅r茅e series is inspired by her own experiments with prisms, alongside the color theories of Isaac Newton and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The prisms, painted in vibrant hues on thick gray cardboard, represent the dispersion of white light into its component colors. Newton鈥檚 scientific approach examines light鈥檚 spectrum objectively, while Goethe鈥檚 more emotional perspective links colors to psychological qualities. This contrast between rational science and subjective experience forms the core of Trojnarski鈥檚 work. The gray background amplifies the colors, enhancing their vibrancy and altering their perception, connecting the material of paper with the perception of light.
Anna Witt鈥檚 Crushed and Melted is a collage that blends visual and auditory elements to explore the dissolution of the human form. The piece is composed of the remnants of a preceding ASMR performance, in which artist methodically destroyed everyday objects such as clothing, phones, books, and bags. These fragmented materials are then reassembled into loose, human-shaped forms, sandwiched between two sheets of plexiglass. This work builds on her earlier performative installation Soft Destructions, shifting the focus from the room to the body and the objects it interacts with. The sculptures are paired with recorded ASMR sounds from the destruction process, immersing viewers in an intimate sensory experience. Through these pieces, Witt examines the complex relationship between destruction and care, reflecting on how emotional closeness can emerge from seemingly destructive actions, while also engaging with themes of media, intimacy, and distance in the digital age.
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