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SPK:
- Information Overload Unit
- Leichenschrei
- W. Sterneck: SPK
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System Planning Korporation:
INFORMATION OVERLOAD UNIT - DOKUMENT ONE
- Notes: Dokument One is a folded A4 formatted booklet that came
with the first LP Information Overload Unit (1981) -
-------------------
System Planning Korporation:
Information Overload Unit
(1981; LP - Side Effects - SER 01 -England)
PROGRAM:
Side A (aka Face ULTRA):
- Emanation Machine R. Gie 1916
- Suture Obsession
- Macht Schrecken
- Berufsverbot
Side B (aka Face HYPER):
- Ground Zero: Infinity Dose
- Stammheim Torturkammer
- Retard
- Epilept: Convulse
- Kaltbruchig Acideath
-------------------
SPK - Dokument I.
Thank you for your interest. This is the first of a series of Dokuments,
with the intention of providing a visual interpretation of SPK to
accompany standard aural output. This particular Dokument is expressly
intended for use with the first LP by SPK, Information Overload
Unit.
Details - Personnel;
Operator - synthesisers, rhythms, treatments, vocals
Wilkins - guitars, bass, tapes, vocals
Mr. Clean - technician
Tone Generator - synthesisers, treaments
Details - Content;
Face Ultra - Emanation Machine R.Gie 1916. Sutre Obsession. Macht
Schrecken. Berufsverbot.
Face Hyper - Ground Zero:Infinity Dose. Stammheim Torturkammer.
Retard. Epilept:Convulse. Kaltbruchig Acideath.
The project ideal is to express the content of various psycho-pathalogical
conditions, especially schizophrenia, manic - depressive psychosis,
mental retardation and paranoia. Information Overload supersedes
normal, rational thought structures, forcing deviation into less
restrictive mental procedures of so-called 'mental illness'. SPK
is trying to be a voice for those individuals condemned to the slow
decay of mental hospitals and chemical / electro / surgical therapy,
without fetishising them into blatant entertainment product. 'SONIC
FOR MANICS' aims to be a vehicle for sharing mental experiences
through sound.
Owing to the instability of personalities associated with SPK output
is likely to be irregular, as it has been up to now.
We would like to hear from anyone interested in what we are doing,
especially those with interest in, or history of, psychotic disorder.
We will reply personally to all correspondence. Our name and material
will vary with each project, but once established, you will have
no difficulty in maintaining contact.
Please write to either
Mike Wilkins,
15, King Edward's Road,
Hackney,
London E9 7SF
OR leave a message with Industrial Records, to whom, as ever, our
thanks. Thanks also to PK, JK, BG, LDG, PTP, DB AND L.
Love,
SPK
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SPECIAL PROGRAMMING KORPS
"The mean I.Q. of 'fighters' was 91; for 'non-fighters' 78.
But the mean I.Q. of the whole group of combat soldiers was 85,
i. e. 15 points below the average. In other words, the less inteligent
men are those into combat & the more intelligent among them,
though they are still well below average."
Almost 50% of psychoneurotic soldiers were in the army for over
18 mths, and 22% became NCO's of some sort. In fact, psychoneurotics
were 50% more likely to be promoted to NCO than normal privates."
'Fighters' were less ectomorphic and more meadmorphic than 'non-fighters',
on average an inch taller and 8lbs heavier. The first sexual experience
occured a year later for fighters, (15yrs 8mths against 14yrs 3mths).
The fighter has faster refelxes and performs much better in pencil
maze and mirror drawing tests. Very few first-born children, being
by and large more anxious."
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SURGICAL PENIS KLINIK
SAKA: A mental patient stole a car and was involved in a 80 MPH
police chase. After driving several miles at breakneck speed he
chrashed into a wall. Then he was pulled from the wreckage he had
substantial head injuries. Now doctors say that by a million to
one chance the metal of the windscreen surround gave him an involuntary
lobotomy, and the patient is now socile enough to be discharged
from the mental hospital.
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SYSTEM PLANNING KORPORATION
Psychotropic drugs
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SELECTIVE PORNOGRAPHY KONTROL
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MEAT PROCESSING
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STRESS REDUCTION TRAINING
At the Neuropsychiatric Lab. in San Diego the men are shown a series
of gruesom films which become steadily more horrific. The trainee
is forced to watch by having his head clamped so he cannot turn
away and by the use of a device which keeps his eyelids open. One
of the first films shows an African youth being circumcised with
a blunt knife and without anaesthetic. When the film is over, the
trainee is asked questions like "What was the motif on the
knife handle?" or, "How many people were holding the youth
down?".
It appears this technique was particularly employed towards the
end of the Yom Kippur war. So far, from using research to prevent
atrocities occurring in the future, it appears that atrocities are
being studied to learn more about killing, and to train people to
be better at it.
A technique used to exploit the need to comply is to spend hours
asking and shouting questions to which the prisoner cannot possibly
know the answer - details of atomic weaponry etc. Many ex-prisoners
spoke of the "...tremendous feeling when he finally asks you
something you can answer."
The Russians were reported to have used succinyl chlorine on Israeli
prisoners in Syria, 1973. The drug, administered by injection, causes
convulsive muscular spasms, leaving the victim totally paralysed,
in agonising pain, unable to breathe properly, but conscious. The
victim feels himself dying, for lack of oxygen, although the effect
is transitory, but there is then the threat of a repeat experience.
-------------------
OPERATION BLACK EYE
Operation Black Eye is a good example psychological threat manipulation.
Selected South Vietnam operators were organized into terror squads,
trained to infiltrate villages. As a result, Viet Cong leaders started
dying in their beds. On each of the bodies was a piece of paper
printed with a grotesque human eye, which came to represent a threat.
Next, 50,000 of the eyes were printed by the USA and started appearing
pinned to people's homes. Now the eye took on a more potent form
because it was an uncertain death.
Following the appearance of the Baader-Meinhof group, the Germans
developped long-term solitary confinement units known as Tote Trakt
(Silent Floor) in which all walls and furniture were painted harsh
white, the lights were permanently on, and the windows were dark
and extremely difficult to see through. This system led to Holger
Meinz starving himself to death and to Meinhof's suicide by hanging
in May 1976.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv::
LEICHENSCHREI - DOKUMENT 2
- Notes: Dokument Two is a folded booklet between A4-A5 size, that
came with the second LP Leichenschrei (1982) -
-------------------
Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv:
Leichenschrei
(1982; LP -Side Effekts, SER 02, England)
Side A (aka Seite ))LYSSO(():
- Genetic Transmission
- Post-Mortem
- Desolation
- Napalm (Terminal Patient)
- Cry from the Sanatorium
- Baby Blue Eyes
- Israel
- Internal Bleeding
Side B (aka Seite ))KLONO(():
- Chamber Music
- Despair
- The Agony of the Plasma
- Day of Pigs
- Wars of Islam
- Maladia Europa (the European Sickness)
PERSONNEL:
Oblivion: synthesisers, elektronik rhythms, tapes, synkussion,
vokals
Ne/H/il: synthesisers, elektronik rhythms, tapes, treatments,
vokals
Pinker: drums, synkussion, metall perkussion, backing vocals
-------------------
SPK - Dokument II.
The second in the series to update on progress and projekts.
We have begun working on the second album : Leichenschrei, due for
release from the UK in April, 82. This will be the final produkt,
as we originally intended. However, there will be a movement into
video and film, beginning with L'Etat Haemophiliaque (Internal Bleeding)
which is in progress and will have its first screening in Australia
later this year. SPK will then specialise in soundtrack, a medium
we have always had a strong sympathy with.
In response to the considerable interest shown in our projekt so
far, we have decided to devote a Dokument to an explanation of some
of the areas of research into sound and visuals which we have used.
Subliminal content in lyriks and voice tapes occupies much of our
attention. However it requires feedback from others in order to
evaluate their effectiveness. That is why we always encourage correspondence,
even though various members of the group prefer to remain anonymous
(as far as possible). In addition, we try to provide some interesting
information on experiments into mental phenomena, and to dispel
some of the boring myths about infra/ultra-sonics.
We have often been asked the reason for apparently limiting ourselves
to the mental sphere. The answer is that we feel the need to intensify
interest in the SPECIFIC locus of consent to be repressed in the
individual. We therefore claim to be "politikal", but
not in the accepted sense of the term.
In 1982 SPK will abandon its earlier practice of limited publik
appearances, with scheduled live assaults in Japan, Europe and Amerika.
Watch out for a show in a town near you.
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SOUNDS OF EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE
There exist dynamic mechanisms whereby the emotionally disturbed
person produces a specific acoustic impact on the listener. Acoustic
patterns are subject not only to the physiological laws governing
respiration and phonation, but also to social rules regarding acoustic
expression of emotion. Experiments by Peter Ostwald in 1960 resulted
in objectification of some patterns into 4 categories:
1. Hysterical/excited subjects produced a 'sharp' voice with acoustic
doubling in the mid-range, identical to children's voices.
2. Depresse`Vobsessional people show persistent fixing of one fundamental
tone, and a midrange pattern smeared out in a 'flat' way across
the spectrum.
3. Organically ill/emotionally drained subjects have characteristically
'hollow' voices with just a single concentration of sound energy
at the low end of the spectrum. There is steady dropping off of
energy in the mid-range and wasting away in the upper region, responsible
for unintelligibility.
4. A 'robust' voice was characteristic of those who felt the need
to be heard, to impress and influence others. This was most
often displayed by epileptic personalities, and by hypomaniacs and
some neurotic subjects.
But what effects do such impact patterns have on the auditory system
of the listener? The intake structure of the human ear favors
the mid-range of the acoustic spectrum. Sounds there produce a much
stronger impact than equally intense insonation at the upper and
lower extremes. Hence the reason that the human scream is concentrated
over that area. Acoustic records of psychiatric patients reveals
certain peaks along the frequency-intensity spectrum more recurrent
and prominent than others. When subjected to stress situations,
ordinary subjects exhibit a gain in acoustic intensity at 125Hz
and 500Hz. It is more complicated with psychiatric patients, but
the measure of total loudness is significant also at 500Hz. In addition
these observations were taken before and after various standard
types of treatment, the results showing that there was a significant
increase in loudness after electroconvulsive therapy and a decrease
after drug treatment.
It is of interest that the 500HZ band is the most significant, since
it is here that the neo-natal infant emits the first cry. The experiments
also showed there was little difference between patterns of the
two sexes, indicating that sounds of acutely disturbed patients
stem from some primitive, pregenital response pattern.
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BEHAVIOR CHANGES PRODUCED BY ACOUSTIC STIMULI.
Systematic manipulation of the acoustic environment can and has
been used as a primary technique for influencing human behavior.
High intensity noise was used in the cells of the prison at Sta'T~nheim
in West Germany where the Baader-Meinhof were imprisoned. The constant
inability to hear the sounds of their own bodies and the unceasing
stress caused must have been a major factor in their suicides.
The intensity level is the most important feature. Noise above 130
dB leads to loss of space orientation, above 140 and the subject
feels nauseous and may vomit. At 145 dB the stretch receptors of
muscles, joints and tendons are affected and the movement of limbs
becomes disorganized. And at 150 dB the skin receptors are activated
producing heat pain.
But in addition to stress, there is the annoyance factor. To speak
intelligibly in noise requires 18 dB more volume than the noise
signal, and the listener must also work harder. Feedback mechanisms
are interfered with when one can't hear one's own sounds, leading
to speech retardation, blocking, slurring and repetition. In addition
the nomlal speech rhythm and intonation patterns are lost and subjects
produce strange noises. They also laugh aggressively and erotically,
and most significantly reveal information they would otherwise have
never divulged. This pattern is most notable in acute paranoid schizophrenics
where aggressive behavior and panic reactions involving hyperparanoia
can be induced.
Finally one can consciously or unconsciously attribute meaning to
noise because it frustrates the habitual listener demand for precise
environmental clues. Noise had the capacity to suggest various imaginary
and autistic interpretations which may disturb.
Human body sounds are also the subject of investigation as to their
effects on listeners. Respiratory sounds have been found to have
a hypnotic effect when amplified and resumed to the ears of the
breather and others. Panting produces anxiety and wheezing seems
to stimulate paternal/maternal "instincts."
Salk found that behavior and development of babies can be sped up
by exposure to taped heart beats. Those in the experimental group
exhibited increase in weight, greater depth and regularity of respiration,
less restlessness and crying, and fewer gastro-intestinal problems.
An intimate relationship between the sound of urination and human
auditory responsivity has often been noted (first by Van der Heide
1941), but the study was never completed. It is possible that the
foetal development of the urogenital tract and the ear are related
in some way.
-------------------
SUBLIMINALS AND UNCONSCIOUS
The unconscious provides frames through which consciously perceived
data is interpreted and evaluated. The task of art, music, literature,
psychoanalysis and advertising, is to penetrate and manipulate these
structures. The effectiveness of any of these fields has very little
to do with conscious perception.
The most blatant use of subliminals is of course found in advertising,
but in art is goes a lot further back. The most usual technique
is EMBEDDING of words or pictures in the ground of the advertisement,
behind the figure (or obvious focal point). This technique was a
favorite with 18th Century artists, and must later Dali, Escher
etc. A subliminal imprint of the word SEX can even be found in a
Rembrandt. This is the most common of a vocabulary of eight words
(including CUNT, FUCK and DEATH) which are very frequently embedded
in advertising copy. The word is either painted on a photoengraving
plate with asphaltum and briefly immersed in acid, or lightly airbrushed
into a photograph in hair, folds of clothing, etc., or written onto
a transparent overlay, photographed alone at about 1/2,000 of a
second, then double exposed over the art layout at around 1/100
of a second. The zenith of obscenity was reached in the daily newspaper
photograph of Vietnam atrocities, which often had an extraordinary
mosaic of SEX's scrawled subliminally over them (see photo.) To
sell war better? To make it more palatable? More erotic? The other
technique used very often is incorporating ANAMORPHIC images into
the copy. This is high distortion, often grotesque, and only at
times consciously distinguishable. One of the earliest examples
in art is Holbein's anamorphic skull in the Ambassadors (1533).
Frequently this method of triggering unconscious response in advertising
involves strange and distorted shadows in the ground.
Television and film have incorporated subliminals for a long time.
They are presumed banned from television but are often so subtle
that they escape censorship. A fairly recent example in film was
the apparently innocuous Exorcise where the whole range of techniques
was used, including death-mask embeds of two frames at 1/48 of a
second. This was consciously visible to about 1/3 of the audience,
and another 1/3 was vaguely aware of it upon questioning. But the
group on whom the film showed most emotional impact were those who
had not noticed it at all, i.e. those who had consciously repressed
the images. Soundtracks are also especially important in management
and control of movie audiences. Hitchcock ranked sound as more vital
to the success of his suspense movies than his visual illusions.
It is often claimed that subliminal material does not really affect
the subject. In fact it is true that the subtlety is difficult to
specify in simple cause-effect terminology. But it can be shown
that there is something going on in the unconscious by watching
EEG and galvanic skin response meters, and retinascopes which measure
the compulsive expansion/contraction of the retina, plus Mackworth
camera which tracks the ultra-fast movements of the fovea across
any scene. In addition the Poetzle Effect whereby people exposed
to subliminal ads reveal their effectiveness much later by unconsciously
choosing that brand out of a wide range, is statistically verified.
Experiments with fovea cameras have shown that the fovea moves in
a saccade from point to point in response to symbolizing content.
Symbols involving death will pull the eye irresistibly towards a
specific locus, and even sex has to run second in Westem culture
in almost 100% of cases. Design elements - lines of movement or
attention - also are vital in directing the fovea. Meaning is derived
from the sequence of microsecond stops compulsively made by the
fovea in its saccades. Change the sequence and the meaning changes,
even though the frame content remains the same.
-------------------
Tests carried out by psychologists in the auditory field show much
the same unconcious processes operating as for visuals. It is fairly
easy to see that sublimal stimuli presented at intensity just below
that necessary to hear them properly will trigger off psychic responses.
But a stimulus influences not only output behavious, but also input,
because the meaing of the word contributes to its audibility. Sex
words presented 5db below threshold to anorexics, for exapmple,
let to signigicantly more food responses that neutral or conscious
stimuli.
It is important however to adopt an attitude to sublimal techniquse,
as to most technology, that it is not, in itself, a grat evil. The
problem is that we are being manipulated without our knowledge for
purely commercial or reputational gain by corporations or artists
interested in pantentialting specific responses. In both cases the
subject has no choice in the matter.
However, it is possible to use the idea in another way. The educational
potential of sublimals is enourmous, since it is experimentally
shown that thresholds for learning are much lower at the unconscious
than the conscious level, where distraction, anxiety, tension and
fear control the thresholds. In film and sound production it is
possible to include sublimals which can potentiate free associations
in the unconscious, rather than dictating any specific response
to it and denying it any choice or participation in the process.
-------------------
INFRA / ULTRA SOUND.
Sound sources at frequencies outside the nomlal limits of human
auditory response are the subject of much popular mythology. First
research in depth by the US Military in the 50s, they are now used
primarily in warfare and medical applications. SPK has been using
certain kinds of low and high frequency generators: for some time
in live assaults. Here we present some facts about such signals.
Infrasound, or frequencies below 20 Hz, is commonly the byproduct
of transport, air heating/cooling systems, compressors, transfommers,
and vibration/acceleration phenomena. But in order to experimentally
generate these frequencies at adequate levels for hearing (or rather
for experiencing), requires immense power and large and specialized
equipment (e.g. piston-driven speakers). The loudness factor necessary
is in excess even of the loudest aero-turbine at some frequencies.
However, once generated, annoyance thresholds increase very fast
as we take the oscillator or noise generator down through the range.
Once the tactile sensations become evident there is a dramatic leap
in the response curve (i.e. below 10 Hz). At 20 Hz it requires 85.2
dB for the signal to be perceived, rising to 92.1 dB at 15 Hz, 99.5
at 10 Hz, 111.1 at 5 Hz, and a massive 121.4 dB at 2 Hz.
The following subjective responses were experimentally gained by
subjecting test subjects to whole-body fields.
2 - 5 Hz (137 dB) - difficulty in speaking/voice modulation, chest
wall vibration, swaying sensations, lethargy, drowsiness, headaches
and fatigue.
5 - 15 Hz - middle ear pain, difficulty speaking/voice modulation,
severe chest wall vibration, severe abdomen vibration and nausea,
falling sensation, lack of concentration/drowsiness, severe fatigue/headache.
15 - 20 Hz - severe middle-ear pain, respiratory difficulty, severe
chest wall vibration, gagging sensations, spasm of uncontrollable
coughing, nasal cavity vibration, persistent eye watering, fear
symptoms (including excessive perspiration/shivering), severe fatigue/headaches.
In two cases (both female) cuntaeous flushing.
Yet perhaps most interesting of all is that in no case did any of
the subjects request that the experiment be discontinued, though
several were unwilling to submit to a repetition. In fact if the
same volume of sound is fed to experimental subjects at frequencies
above theinfrasonic region (e.g. from 50 -100 Hz) the above symptoms
are seen to be far more acute, and at lower volumes.
At the other end of the spectrum, it is necessary to have more specialized
equipment for generating signals in the megahertz range. But the
effects are severe and applied in sophisticated weapons technology.
Ultrasound works by raising the temperature of living tissue, the
main parameter being DURATION of exposure rather than variation
in frequency or intensity of the source. The threshold temperature
is inversely related to the logarithm of duration, for irreversible
damage to the mammalian central nervous system it is sufficient
to generate a signal of 2.7 MHz pulsing 10 - 200 microseconds sustainer
for anywhere between 0 1 - 180 microseconds, giving a temperature
rise of 42c.
Specific effects from experiments at similar levels
Neurological/Behavioral - altered EEG
altered emotional behaviour
delayed neuromotor reflex development in foetus
Genetic - decreased incorporation of nucleic acid precursors
chromosomal aberrations
DNA strand degradation.
Foetal Development - mutations
postpartum mortality
reduced weight
altered emotional behaviour
Hematological / Vascular - decreased clotting time
haemorrhage
blood stasis
Immunal System - depressed response in general
spenomegaly.
-------------------
ART BRUT
Art Brut is the name given to the collection of paintings, sculptures,
drawings, and writings by patients in mental asylums of France,
or by people found living in total obscurity producing works
producing works ofart obsessionally. It is housed in a small museum
in Laussane, Switzerland and periodically is shown at obscure venues
around Europe. The quality of the work is screened (for better or
worse) with a view to retaining only that which seems entirely original.
The result is a living array of undecipherable calligraphiks, primitivist
figures, unreadable muzik, and obsessive designs as well as a vast
array of curious paintings of style found nowhere in "art history".
Some of the more interesting people are Adolf Wolfi, who aged 25
molested young girls, was given 2 years jail, and later, a similar
offense led him to be interned at Waldau. He was conceptionally
violent and spent 20 years in solitary confinement. In 1899 he began
to write, design, and compose musik, working feverlishly day and
night. His muzikal works are not able to be interpretated in the
ordinary way, appearing to be for vusual effect and incorporating
strange collages. Heinrich Anton Muller began in 1917 to design
and cover the walls of his room iwh symbolic images. He also made
funcionless machines, this work occupying him for 12 years. Then
in 1925 he suddenly began again and produced a completely different
set of designs.
Robert Gie. was hospitalised for 14 years as alcoholic, until 1922,
where he suffered from delusions of paranoid variety. Most of his
work was done around 1916, and its complex linkages between man
and machine figuring control of mental process, is far in advance
of such ideas in mainstream art.
-------------------
SOLOMON'S KEY
xywoleh vay barec het vay yomar ha elohe
elohim ascher tywohe hythale chuabotay lep
ha nawabra hanveys ha hakla elohim haro
he otymeo dy addhayon hazze hamalech hago
--------------------------------------
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SPK - Information Overload Site
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Wolfgang Sterneck:
S.P.K. UND DIE PSYCHISCHE VERÄNDERUNG
Zu den ersten Bands, deren Aufnahmen auf Industrial Records veröffentlicht
wurden, gehörte S.P.K. Die drei Buchstaben wurden in den ersten
Jahren mit fast jeder neuen Veröffentlichung einer anderen
Bedeutung zugeführt, so unter anderem zu Surgical Penis Klinik,
System Planning Korporation und Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv.
Bei den späteren Veröffentlichungen wurde dieses Verfahren
aufgegeben und nur noch SPK als Bandname beibehalten. Das Projekt
wurde 1979 in Sydney von Ne/H/iL, einem Patienten einer psychiatrischen
Anstalt, und Graeme Revell, einem in der Einrichtung arbeitenden
Betreuer, gegründet. Entsprechend war auch der Bereich psychischer
Veränderungen in den ersten Jahren das zentrale Thema der Veröffentlichungen.
Der Grundgedanke des Projektes ist es, die Bedeutung verschiedener
psychopathologischer Zustände, insbesondere Schizophrenie,
manisch-depressive Psychose, mentale Retardationen und Paranoia
aufzuzeigen. S.P.K. versucht eine Stimme derer zu sein, die zu einem
langsamen Verfall in den psychiatrischen Krankenhäusern verdammt
sind, ohne sie zu einem Unterhaltungsprodukt zu machen. Unsere Veröffentlichungen
sollen mentale Erfahrungen über den Vermittler Sound nachvollziehbar
machen.
Die musikalischen Ausdrucksformen basierten entsprechend auf einer
Verbindung von monotonen, elektronischen Rhythmen und Geräuschcollagen
in die verzerrte Stimmen und Schreie eingespielt wurden. Nach mehreren
Besetzungswechseln kam es in den achtziger Jahren zu einer Abkehr
von der ursprünglichen inhaltlichen Ausrichtung und zu einem
musikalischen Stilwechsel. Nachdem sich S.P.K. zeitweise dance-orientierten
Stilelementen zuwandte, kam es zu einer Öffnung gegenüber
musikalischen Einflüsse aus verschiedenen Kulturen und Epochen,
die zu mystisch anmutenden Stücken verbunden wurden.
Die Bezeichnung Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv nahm Bezug auf
die gleichnamige Organisation in der BRD, deren Mitglieder von der
Erkenntnis ausgingen, dass psychische und psychosomatische Veränderungen
bzw. Krankheiten in den zerstörenden Mechanismen des kapitalistischen
Systems wurzeln. Das Ziel lautete dementsprechend nicht, wie zumeist
in den bestehenden psychiatrischen Einrichtungen, die PatientInnen
soweit zu heilen, dass sie wieder in den kapitalistischen Verwertungsprozess
integriert werden können, sondern vielmehr die systembedingten
Ursachen der Krankheiten aufzuzeigen und anzugreifen. Der
Stein, den jemand in die Kommandozentralen des Kapitals wirft, und
der Nierenstein, an dem ein anderer leidet, sind austauschbar. Schützen
wir uns vor Nierensteinen!
Die Band S.P.K. griff diese Theorien zwar teilweise auf, ging in
ihren Aktionen aber nie über einen theoretischen und musikalischen
Rahmen hinaus. Die Freitode zweier Bandmitglieder, darunter des
Gründungsmitglieds Ne/H/iL, zeigten, dass auch innerhalb der
Band keineswegs ein Klima gegeben war, welches die Probleme psychischer
Veränderungen auffing. Als Graeme Revell in einem Interview
auf die Ursachen angesprochen wurde, antwortete er in einer Weise,
die in ihrer äußerst zynischen Grundhaltung charakteristisch
für viele Projekte der Industrial Culture war und wohl das
skurrile Image der Band unterstreichen sollte: Ich kenne die
Gründe nicht. Sie haben es mir nicht verraten. Und sie haben
mir auch nichts in ihrem Testament vermacht, was ich wirklich ärgerlich
finde.
S.P.K.-Gründer Graeme Revell veröffentlichte 1986 eine
Konzeptplatte mit Vertonungen von Kompositionen von Adolf Wölfli
und knüpfte damit wieder an seine anfängliche Auseinandersetzung
mit dem Bereich psychischer Veränderungen an, wenn auch nun
von einem kunsthistorisch orientierten Ansatz ausgehend. Bis zu
seinem Tod (1930) verbrachte Wölfli über die Hälfte
seines Lebens in der Irrenanstalt in Waldau bei Bern
in der Schweiz. Der äußeren Freiheit beraubt, entwickelte
er im Innern eine auf ihn selbst bezogene Welt voller eigentümlicher
Menschen, Pflanzen und Maschinen mit spezifischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten.
Diese dokumentierte er in einem äußerst umfangreichen
Werk von Zeichnungen, Collagen, Kompositionen und Texten. Allebrah,
du bist Musik. Allebrah, du bist Gott... Allebrah, nun ist Sommer.
Allebrah, du bist krank. Ich heiße Hinterpommer. Drum sende
ich den Schwank. Voll Wunden, Schmerz und Hiebe. Auf hartem Krankenbett
ist Gott ja voller Triebe. Drum wird er heut nicht fett.
In vielen Zeichnungen von Wölfli lassen sich eingebunden in
Ornamenten und Figuren Kompositionen in Form traditioneller sowie
vielfach auch abgewandelter Musiknoten erkennen. In anderen Zeichnungen
bediente sich Wölfli verschiedener Wortsilben und Symbole,
die von ihm kreiert wurden, um einzelne Kompositionen darzustellen.
In schriftlicher Form gab er dazu Anweisungen wie die Musikstücke
im einzelnen aufzuführen seien. Ihm selbst standen als Instrumente
nur einige selbstgebaute Papiertrompeten zur Verfügung, auf
denen er teilweise mehrere Stunden ununterbrochen in seiner Zelle
spielte.
Für das musikalische Werk Wölflis wurde der Begriff der
Musique Brut geprägt. Er ist abgeleitet von der Theorie der
Art Brut, die der französische Maler Jean Dubuffet um 1945
entwickelte. Dubuffet lehnte die gesellschaftlich anerkannten Kunstgattungen
grundsätzlich ab und sah im Gegensatz zu diesen in den Gestaltungen
von Kindern und psychisch Veränderten die eigentliche Kunst,
da diese aus dem Innern heraus spontan, unreflektiert und weitgehend
unmanipuliert entsteht. Dubuffet selbst veröffentlichte mehrere
Aufnahmen improvisierter Musikstücke, die in den frühen
sechziger Jahren in Zusammenarbeit mit dem dänischen Maler
Asgar Jorn entstanden. Ohne besondere musikalische Fähigkeiten
und ohne Kenntnisse über die Entwicklungen der musikalischen
Avantgarde benutzten die beiden Künstler unterschiedlichste
Instrumente, denen sie neue, bisher ungeahnte Töne entlocken
wollten. Die Ergebnisse zeichnete Dubuffet mit einem vergleichsweise
einfachen Tonbandgerät auf. Man nennt eine Aufnahme gut,
wenn die Töne klar und deutlich sind. Doch in der Alltagswelt
unseres Ohres gibt es nicht nur diese Töne, sondern auch -
und sogar in einem weit größerem Maße - sehr unreine,
undeutliche und verwaschene Töne, die von weit herkommen und
mehr oder weniger schlecht zu verstehen sind. Wenn man sich dafür
entscheidet, sie zu ignorieren, dann führt das zu einer Schein-Kunst,
die nur eine bestimmte Kategorie von Tönen zuläßt.
Mein Ziel dagegen war eine Musik, die sich nicht auf eine Auswahl
gründet, sondern die alle Töne einbezieht - und vor allem
die Töne, die man fast unbewusst hört. (...)
Gerade an Adolf Wölfli wird deutlich wie sehr die Charakterisierung
einer Person als Genie oder Wahnsinniger von der jeweiligen Gesellschaft
und dem Herrschaftssytem abhängig ist. Während Wölfli
selbst über die Hälfte seines Lebens von der Gesellschaft
verstoßen in der Psychiatrie verbrachte, wurde er zweiundvierzig
Jahre nach seinem Tod auf der Documenta, der weltweit bedeutendsten
Ausstellung moderner Kunst, als ein Vorläufer der avantgardistischen
Kunstströmungen des 20. Jahrhunderts gewürdigt und seine
Zelle originalgetreu nachgebaut. Zudem widmeten mehrere KomponistInnen
einzelne Stücke Wölfli oder vertonten wie Revell dessen
musikalische Aufzeichnungen. Deutlich wird an der Person Wölflis
aber auch, dass es neben den öffentlich anerkannten Kunst-
und Musikstilen eine Vielzahl von Entwicklungen gibt, die auf ihre
Weise mindestens ebenso bedeutend sind, aber nie einen größeren
Bekanntheitsgrad erlangen, weil sie keine Möglichkeit haben
ein interessiertes Publikum zu erreichen oder sich der Kulturindustrie
mit ihren Verwertungsmechanismen entziehen.
Auszug aus:
Wolfgang Sterneck: Der Kampf um die Träume - Musik und Gesellschaft. (1998).
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