Anke Eckardt
[DE]
The ground is in motion. "GROUND" acts as a looking glass, as an amplifier for what we normally can't perceive. Tectonic plates that are continuously shifting, the permutations of landscapes constitute an infinite process of becoming. The geosphere is a complex system that interferes with the biosphere but also with the anthroposphere, that part of the environment that is made and modified by humans.
Anke Eckardt's "GROUND" installation is a long and thin cube placed within a narrow hallway, that people can walk through. From time to time the ground is moved by mechanical forces, such that the motion can be felt, heard and seen. Rough sounds are produced through friction between the concrete elements. The experience of the loss of a visual reference point, and of the moment when it becomes unclear what is still and what isn't, may imprint an afterglow of an unstable, moving ground in the visitor's physical memory.
The work of German artist Anke Eckardt encompasses installations and sculpture, teaching, and theoretical discourse on the phenomenology of sound. Her large-scale installations and sculptures use ultrasound and infrasound in combination with other media and materials in motion such as water, concrete, and beams of light.
Born in Dresden and currently based in Berlin, Eckardt studied under Sam Auinger, Holger Schulze, and Sabine Sanio at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin, where she was granted a fellowship to pursue an MA in sound studies under the mentorship of Christina Kubisch. With a professional background in sound engineering, she defines her primary field of research as sonic spaces, and investigates basic components of space through both artistic and theoretical approaches. A monograph on the topic was published by Revolver in January 2014, and she also taught a seminar at UdK seminar in winter 2013/14.
Eckardt's work has been presented both throughout Germany and internationally in exhibitions at Ars Electronica, NEMO, Steirischer Herbst, CTM, Skanu Mesz, and European Media Art Festival, among other events and conferences. Notably, her multi-sensory installation piece "BETWEEN | YOU | AND | ME," which was presented at CTM.12 and co-produced by the ECAS festival network, received an Honourary Mention in the "Digital Musics and Sound Art" category of Prix Ars Electronica 2012.
Concept/Realisation: Anke Eckardt. Construction: Zolle. Thanks to: Hertzer GmbH.
Co-funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin and the Berlin-Pankow Art and Culture Departement; realised with the support of the Graduate School of the Arts and the Sciences, Berlin. GROUND received a Honorary Mention at the VIDA 16.0 Award (Spain) in 2014.
