Both as an artist and as a scientist, German-born Robert Henke is hailed as one of the most important contemporary electronic music artists. Founder of the legendary Monolake music project and co-creator of the Ableton software, used in recording studios around the world, Henke will present a work titled CBM 8032 AV. Using computers dating from the early 1980s, CBM 8032 AV explores the beauty of simple graphics and sound. At the same time, it conveys a sense of ambivalence between a contemporary aesthetics and the usage of obsolete, 40-year-old technology. In CBM 8032, all the materials of the audio-visual experience have been constructed based on 1980s techniques and digital media. However, the artistic result is clearly a part of today’s cultural milieu.
When artists began exploring computers as a medium during the 1950s, technology was limited and the resulting minimalism in expression was a necessity. Half a century later, the once promising sight of the green cathode-ray tube display evokes nostalgia for what was a true novelty back then.
