THOM KUBLI
FLOAT! THINKTANK 21, 2010

Isolation Tank: Tank, filter equipment, window film, 6-channel audio system
Library: Portable audio players, headphones, books

DESCRIPTION

FLOAT! Thinktank 21 is an installation piece that comprises a flotation tank, a sound composition, an archive of audio performances by the artist and a context table filled with books by a variety of philosophers and inspiring thinkers. Drawing from experiments in brain research conducted by John C. Lilly in the 1950’s, the piece primarily allows the audience to listen to audio recordings on politics and zero gravity that the artist made after floating in the tank in the days leading up to the exhibition opening. A select number of viewers may also make an appointment to float in the isolation tank custom fit with an underwater sound system.

The project seeks to use the experience of zero gravity to bring about a shift in political thought. “Zero gravity can be read as a condition where prevailing reference models are suspended,” Kubli writes. “The condition of zero gravity might be evoked by willingly refusing a social and political model.“

BIOGRAPHY

Berlin-based composer and artist Thom Kubli has exhibited and presented his work over the past several years in spaces and festivals that include: ICA (London, UK), Akademie der Künste (Berlin, Germany), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), The New Museum (NYC), Radar Festival (Mexico), Transmediale (Berlin, Germany), Tesla (Berlin, Germany), Deutsches Museum (Munich), and USP (São Paolo). His audio work has been released on CD through WDR/Studio Akustische Kunst, Lucky Kitchen, BMB-Lab, and 12k.

Kubli studied jazz guitar and composition from 1990-94. Since 1994 he produced and published in the field of electronic music in Europe and the United States. In 1998 he founded the sound-art label BMB-Lab. From 1999-2003 he studied at the Academy of Media Arts/Cologne.

Renderings courtesy the artist

FLOAT! THINKTANK 21 on Tour!

August-September, 2010
Marian Spore Gallery, Brooklyn