NATURTON SPIELAUTOMAT (2020)
Site-specific sound installation
3-channel audio, continuously shifting
Drum chair and wooden elements from the stage of the local wind orchestra
Municipality, Sibratsgfäll AT


Naturton Spielautomat (Natural Tone Slot Machine) offers a meditative space in which everyone is alone with a unique sound experience without narrative, course or dynamic.

Formerly a tool used by shepherds in the Alps of Switzerland and Austria (to call the cows from the pastures to the stable, to pacify cows during milking and to communicate with the herdsmen on the surrounding Alps and the people down in the valley below) the alphorn now, with the revival of folklore and tourism, serves as musical instrument, tourist attraction and national symbol for the two neighbouring countries.

The alphorn has no lateral openings and therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open pipe. These natural tones now form the soundtrack of the Alpine region; tourism and thus the self-narration of the nations has redefined the alphorn and given it a new function.

The entire tonal range of an alphorn was recorded and arranged on soundtracks so that in the exhibition space an ever-changing sound combination surrounds the visitor. As with the slot machine one-armed bandit, we are at the mercy of chance. But instead of cherries, lemons, or bells on rotating dials, what emerges are various combinations of natural tones.