The fascination emerging from complex creations of nature and their interaction are focused in thesound installation SUPRA. Interrelationships of different natural phenomena leading to an individualityof a higher order through complex communication, but without hierarchy, are their inspiration.
A tree does not only provide wood or shade, it is part of an overwhelming eco-system. Our earth is a
single interacting bioreactor, the human body a natural born networker. Fusing black holes, reacting
chemicals, climatic braids or cross-modulating oscillators of a synthesiser: whenever closed
structures entwine, fertilise and marry, synergies are created, a superorganism comes into existence.
Man interrupts, manipulates, even eliminates these interactions. He regulates and optimizes from the
point of view of efficiency, profitability, profit maximization, without respecting the complex structures
and interrelationships. In an arrogant way, modern man makes use of everything in the false
assumption that he does have to perfect an environment that is balanced in itself. With fateful
consequences...
SUPRA is an auditory sculpture that uses the aforementioned processes as sound sources. Sound-
technically processed and alienated, they are subsequently reassembled into an associative sound
narrative. Carefully arranged phonographies, sound-discoveries and synthetically composed sound
material create aural milieus whose manipulations lead to new entanglements. As in previous works,
Mehr searches for the sound behind the sound, elicits new sound phenomena from the collected
recordings, crystallises them and places them in the foreground. SUPRA is a homage to the
inexhaustible diversity of nature and the hope for its return in an inexorably advancing digital world.
The box system designed by physicist Florian Jung forms a sculptural sound habitat that can be
experienced by visitors standing, sitting, or in motion, and congenially complements the conceptual
approach with another aesthetic dimension. The viewable wooden cabinet not only makes the
inherent technology visible. The plant material cultivated in the box (moss, lichen, ivy) grows together
with the high-tech inner workings of the sound transducer. It serves both tonal aspects (insulation,
diffusion) and the thematic continuation of SUPRA. The unique construction illustrates the flawless
completeness of organic resources and the unstoppable urge of man to perfect them according to
his ideas.
