Thomas Köner's name is generally
associated with the meditative drift of albums such as Permafrost
, Aubrite, or his contribution to the recent Driftworks box set.
His substantial body of recorded work has tended to overshadow
his parallel involvement in film-based projects . Köner has
provided the musical accompaniment for silent films on several
occasions and regularly takes part in groundbreaking live shows
in collaboration with German experimental film maker Jürgen
Reble . An opportunity to verify the current state of play of
the Köner -Reble partnership was provided by the recent 3D
film season organised by the Museum of the Louvre in Paris. Thanks
to the imaginative, open-ended approach of its curator, the spacious,
modern expanses of the Louvre Auditorium have become one of the
breeding grounds for the small but hardy experimental film scene
currently blossoming in France.
Like previous film sea sons at the Louvre, this 3D festival was
conceived as a response to art historical preoccupations. Three-
dimensional imagery represents a departure from the aesthetics
of painting which dominate the history of cinema: These techniques
break up the flat surface of the cinema screen, producing an illusion
of depth. The films on show ranged from 50s and 60s sci-fi and
horror movies, to the recent cathartic experiments of American
film maker Ken Jacobs, who creates a three-dimensional effect
through the use of alternating images. Jacobs put his eager audience
of film buffs through a gruelling yet strangely uplifting test
using a shutter and two projectors that advanced frame by frame,
he produced flickering images of waves that moved slowly but relentlessly
forward in almost total silence for its 107 minute duration.
Jacob's film proved a challenging experience, and Köner and
Reble's show the following night was informed, as always, by a
similarly uncompromising, hard-bitten attitude.
Their previous collaboration, Alchemie , which was
presented at the Louvre in 1995, featured a ten metre film loop
subjected to chemical treament and destroyed at the end of the
performance. Projector noises and the hiss of the chemicals as
they corroded the film provided the sound sources for Köner's
musical accompaniment. It was an intense, holistic experience
that married the complex, rich timbres of the music with the fizzing
energy of the film treatments . This time round, the duo presented
Tabula Smaragdina, a live as always unrehearsed performance.
Reble projected a print of a film to which he had applied layers
of chemical substances. His customised projectors spewed out superimposed
images that modulated into kaleidoscopic mosaics, grid like patterns
and strange mythological creatures before disintegrating and reforming
anew. Dressed in a white outfit and black cap, Köner
cut a striking figure in the half-light, as he selected tracks
from a reservoir of treated, pitched and harmonised sounds stored
on CDs. Gongs samples merged with noises sourced from a projector,
providing the soundtrack to a shadowy, dream-like half-world
awash with low frequencies and de caying timbres. Eschewing traditional
notions of rhythm and melody, the soundtrack underscored the tensions
in the pulsating colours and shapes. Likewise, the images were
bereft of structure and narrative. More than just a film, Tabula
Smaragdina is a visual and auditory experience
in equal measure, that seals new and exciting connections
between sound and images.
Back