past events

For the final event in the Reinventing Goethe series, the Goethe-Institut New York is proud to present internationally acclaimed sound artist Carsten Nicolai.

Nicolai—a.k.a. alva noto—has established himself as a leading figure in the realm of electronic sound and visual design, using art and music as tools to create a microscopic view of the creative process. Nicolai has performed and created installations in many of the world‘s most prestigious venues including The Guggenheim Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, NTT Tokyo, and the Venice Biennale, and is a featured artist on the Raster-Noton label. For this concert performance, he will be joined by two other Raster-Norton recording artists, CM von Hausswolff and Byetone.

Carsten Nicolai, whose work has been referred to as “posthuman funk,” plays freely with the rules of tonal physicality. Using looping oscillators, tone generators, and modem sounds, he heightens the time and space aspects of tones so that pure electricity actually becomes audible. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions to his compositions; rather, they constitute essential elements. These sound sources are then applied to the rhythmic groove of Hip-Hop and R&B, producing an utterly unique sound. Nicolai ignores the limits between genres and brings experimentalism one step closer to the clubs. As the New York Times said, Carsten Nicolai “makes you think about the future of music.”

The series Reinventing Goethe with ifau + Jesko Fezer accompanies the aesthetic renovation of the Institut's new event space. Reinventing Goethe is collaboratively curated by Joseph Grima, the director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and ifau + Jesko Fezer.

The Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization advocating innovative positions within architecture, design and art. ifau (Institut für angewandte Urbanistik/Institute for Applied Urbanism) + Jesko Fezer, who redesigned the Kunstverein München, the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart and pro qm (a Berlin-based bookstore) among others, developed the interior design concept for the new location.