UmbauStadt is a 30-hour, perpetual, real-time AV collage of 60 filmed and recorded places at 30 locations in Beijing and 30 in Berlin. The work follows a simple and straightforward approach, tracking the parallel process of deconstruction of these 60 places and the concurrent construction of a new place, a non-documentary document, becoming present in front of the audience and pointing out newfound models for the present perception of synchronicity and future dialogues.

Altering between Beijing and Berlin, each location is split into a visual and sonic information layer, which are both loaded into a custom application that independently and randomly assembles the two layers into a new audiovisual composition along given parameters. Embedded in the application are different modes to color, filter and modulate the original sound, causing the sonic character to constantly evolve and to change from naturalistic, to modified, to musical.

UmbauStadt disintegrates both cities into pieces, and installs a digitally refurbished representation of their simultaneous actuality. UmbauStadt transforms the locations of these two cities and merges their separated fragments into the undefined and permanently modulated scenery of a new city.

The installation will run for 30 hours, appearing in the pauses and breaks between the main events of the Goethe-Institut's 30th anniversary celebration at their space in art district "798" on November 17 and 18. It is a collaborative installation by Berlin-based artist and musician Wang Menghan and Beijing-based artist and curator Markus M Schneider / MMS, along with Hangzhou-based artist and musician Wang Changcun.

Audiovisual installation
UmbauStadt - 30 hours in places

17/11 14:00 – 18/11 20:00

Venue: throughout the entire space, Goethe-Institut China
Address: Originality Square, 798 Art District, Jiuxianqiao Road No. 2, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Artists: Wang Menghan, Markus M Schneider / MMS, Wang Changcun
Free Entrance

The Artists

Wang Menghan

Wang Menghan is a Berlin-based sound artist, electronic music producer and DJ. She works with musical and spatial sources and their sonic qualities, conceptually disintegrating their elements and rearranging them into new musical, audiovisual and spatial compositions. MengHan's music blends minimized beats, spherical developments, and subtly pounding, deep pulsing structures, oscillating between rhythmic etudes, throbbing percussion and evolving soundscapes. Her DJ sets fuse techno with various melodic and abstract elements, including noise. MengHan has performed at many of China's major electronic music venues, including The Shelter, Oil, Zhao Dai, Lantern, DADA, and Yugong Yishan, as well as at festivals including Audi Urban Electronics, Prajnasonic’s T.A.U.M, and BEME (Beijing Electronic Music Encounter). As part of the Sino-Indian Music Alliance), she and Shao became the first Chinese artists to tour in India. MengHan's deep immersion in China's electronic music scene has led her down a persistently evolving path of composition and artistic practice.

https://soundcloud.com/menghan

Markus M Schneider / MMS

Markus M Schneider / MMS is a China-based creative hybrid and artist, designer, curator, creative strategist and trans-disciplinary consultant. Coming from a profound background in contemporary art, since moving to Beijing from Berlin in 2008 he has been a constant presence on the city's creative scene, presenting concepts, projects and designs at multiple international symposia including Beijing Design Week and The Global School / B-Side. MMS is the founder of Metroprojects, a cross-disciplinary design and consulting studio with which he realized concepts for business designs, developed multiple large-scale events for brands and institutions including Audi and Goethe-Institut, as well as projects for architectural contexts such as for the UABB, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen. MMS co-founded Metrowaves, a platform fostering electronic music culture in China; Sinotronics, a net label focused curating contemporary music; and BEME (Beijing Electronic Music Encounter), China’s most profiled annual festival for live electronic music.
http://metroprojects.org

Wang Changcun

Wang Changcun is a Hangzhou-based sound artist, electronic musician and computer programmer. Active as an artist for almost 20 years, he is one of the most influential and prolific members of China’s avant-garde music scene, notable for his constant probing of the relationship between technology and music. Six of Wang's early works were included on the groundbreaking compilation China: The Sonic Avant-Garde, published un 2003 by American label Post-Concrete. Wang’s first solo album, The Mountain Swallowing Sadness, was published soon after by Belgian label Sub Rosa, and since then he has been a regular name at exhibitions, festivals, and compilations spotlighting Chinese sound art around the world. Wang’s latest album, 2018’s Song of Anon, was published by Beijing label D Force Records and earned as much praise for its music as for the innovative technical details of its composition, which include a custom-built Max patch as a compositional aide.

http://changcun.wang