Ur-Geräusch / Primal Sound
(Reprint of Rainer Maria Rilkes Essay "Ur-Geräusch")
Carsten Nicolai/Kunstverein Braunschweig/Jule Hillgärtner

“Ur-Geräusch” (Primal Sound) is the title of an essay by Rainer Maria Rilke, which was published in 1919 and subsequently lent its name to the exhibition by Carsten Nicolai that was mounted last year at the Kunstverein Braunschweig. In the text Rilke wrote about the phonograph, which was invented almost 140 years ago as a precursor of the record player and was the first device capable of reproducing sound. Paralleling this technical innovation, Nicolai finds visual forms for the recording and playback of sound waves. For his installation at the Kunstverein Braunschweig he had Jule Böwe narrate Rilke’s “Primal Sound”. In the artist’s book he contrasts the envelope curve — the visualized image of her voice — with the printed text. Pictures of his installations are tucked away as a “hidden track” on the inside of the Japanese binding.