“Study for Refraction and Rotary Motion”

Site-specific soundinstallation by Mario de Vega (Artist in Residence 2019)
April 10 – May 18, 2019
das weisse haus, Hegelgasse 14, 1010 Vienna

Mario de Vega has developed an artistic practice that understands acoustic phenomena as a medium – both conceptually and materially. He investigates affective sound qualities in order to regulate performative situations and perceptual experiences. Sound understood as a phenomenon that can be perceived acoustically and through visual representation is exemplified in his current work, which the artist conceived especially for the circular exhibition space in das weisse haus. This goes back to his journey near the Mexican-American border, where in the 1950s the USA took aerial photographs to develop a system for measuring the world. However, with the launch of the first satellite into space, this research became obsolete and since then, the area has been used as a public space for shooting exercises. “Study for Refraction and Rotary Motion”, is an artistic translation and spatial relocation of this area, in which Mario de Vega initiates the imagination of an acoustic event, and at the same time stimulates the reflection on social inequality, political power, violence and noise.