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Susan Philipsz in "Berlin"
Susan Philipsz treats audio as a sculptural object, using historically-resonant sources—like an orchestral work by a composer who was interned in a German concentration camp in the 1940s—to create unexpectedly haunting and lyrical installations. Philipsz develops a series of projects across Germany and Austria, including the rehearsal of World War II–damaged instruments in a small German town and a new work connecting one of Vienna’s best-known public squares to its fascist past.
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Susan Philipsz was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1965. Philipsz’s work explores the psychological and sculptural dimensions of sound, with recordings of her voice and a variety of reworked musical compositions. Interested in the power of sound to trigger emotion, Philipsz responds to the architecture and history of the spaces in which her pieces are installed; her works prompt introspection and an examination of personal and collective memories, losses, and yearnings.
“I thought of songs as found objects. Singing them unaccompanied and then placing them in a particular context could make you see the place in a new way.”
Susan Philipsz