MÜNSTER.- Following two successful editions in 2021 and 2023, ton not. not ton takes place at Kunsthalle Münster for the third time. With Bear Bones Lay Low, Isaac Chong Wai, Gajek, Keta Gavasheli + Gregor Darman, Satch Hoyt, Steffani Jemison, Annika Larsson + E.I. the Blob and Alvin Lucier, we have again invited visual artists and musicians.

Concert, performance, exhibition: ton not. not ton is devoted to the sound of things and to what sound evokes, allowing it to appear in acoustic interventions and objects in space, and come to life in one's own imagination—vibrating and haptic, visual and immaterial, embodied and disembodied. The focus of the third edition of ton not. not ton lies on resonance. How is sound produced, how is it absorbed by the body, how does it resonate within us and how do we resonate within our surroundings? What traces do we leave behind—sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously? What role does our body play in all this? How do we, simply through our physical presence, inscribe ourselves into the space and change it?

By exploring the theme of resonance, ton not. not ton responds to an increasing alienation. The associated loss of the ability to resonate is countered in the exhibition by offering meaningful experiences. Immediate physical experiences, the visualization of time and space, encounters with textures and sounds, listening as a distinct sensory experience and perceptual ability all contribute to a sense of situatedness. It is about a collectively shared space, an ability to resonate—in the sense of "response-ability"—and challenges us to think more broadly about what it means to hear, to be heard and to listen in today's complex environment.

The works in the exhibition actively engage the visitors, become measuring instruments of their presence and impact. Their own movements or noises are registered by the works and resonate within them. The quivering, contorting or twitching of Annika Larsson's E.I. the Blob as a reaction to a sound in the space visualizes something which, similarly, Alvin Lucier renders audible with his Empty Vessels. Perhaps one could also speak of a certain vibrancy in the lenticular prints by Steffani Jemison, who in her works makes reference to Black history, as does Satch Hoyt in his Afro Sonic Mapping staged as part of the opening. The works of Jemison and Larsson, then again, share an interest in and critical examination of progress. New ways of thinking and being are explored on the basis of vulnerability—a vulnerability that Isaac Chong Wai, in his works, juxtaposes with gestures of care, in which the resonance becomes palpable, almost tangible. The performances and concerts likewise play with the materiality of the sound, thus creating almost palpable impressions which, in turn, seem to inscribe themselves on us as the audience in the live moment.

Annika Larsson (born 1972) work examines the intertwined relationships between knowledge, embodiment, affect and visuality in our digital and physical world. Her work E.I. the Blob (2018), combining visuality and sound, was created to explore new ways of thinking, being and acting using moving images. The sensitive "image organism" responds interactively to sounds, with every communication leaving traces—traces that disappear slowly but never completely. The blob's body virtually incorporates external stimuli, and it is precisely this physical characteristic that allows anthropomorphization to occur, even almost provokes it. In this regard, the question is also raised about the extent to which digital and organic systems are entangled in a continuous state of mutual influence and change. Together with E.I. the Blob, Larsson explores how organisms, bodies, technologies and environments communicate beyond instrumental language, subjectivity and reason, to experience what moving images and bodies can do and how both can help us understand the limits of our thinking.

The US-American composer and sound artist Alvin Lucier (1931-2021) is concerned with sound as a phenomenon of physics. In research-based productions oscillating between art performance, composition and science, he has devoted himself to the act of human hearing. With Empty Vessels (1997), premiered at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 1997, Lucier investigates the resonance characteristics of small interior spaces and translates the inaudible into the audible. In eight empty glass vessels of different shapes and sizes, the sound of the surroundings is picked up by microphones, transmitted and made audible to the human ear with the aid of eight corresponding speakers. Each of the varying vessels produces its own sound, so that every strand of the feedback is likewise defined by the resonance characteristics of the respective vessel. As a result, a controlled area of feedback is created with resonant tones and their interferences; everything that happens between the speakers and containers influences the sound. Even the presence of people in the room has an effect on the sound, enabling one's own physical presence to be perceived acoustically.

Steffani Jemison (born 1981) uses time-based, photographic and discursive platforms to enquire into "progress" and its alternatives. Drawing on movement and language as tools for material and spiritual research, her interdisciplinary practice explores themes of possibility, perspective, proximity and understanding. Inspired by the myth of Icarus, the works on display examine the connection between the body and mind through images of flight. Often focussing on Black American cultural forms, Jemison searches for connections across different historical, cultural and artistic contexts, returning again and again to the title "Same Time", to evoke insights transcending boundaries of time and space. The two lenticular prints Untitled (Same Time / How else will I) (2024) feature figures floating in the air—although, without a horizon line for orientation, it is hard to tell whether they are flying or falling. Owing to their distinct qualities, the prints combine several temporal moments in a single object. In addition, they play with the illusion of movement and depth, are still and moving images alike and encourage interaction. The mirror works Untitled (Same Time / way in the middle of the air) (2024), on the other hand, depict a disintegrating wheel. With "way in the middle of the air", the image and title quote a line from the traditional African American song Ezekiel Saw the Wheel. Jemison uses these disparate symbols of flight to explore our ceaseless desire for freedom in the face of impossible conditions.

The interdisciplinary artistic practice of Isaac Chong Wai (born 1990) combines conceptual, political and performative elements. He is particularly interested in the vulnerability of the human body and the inherent violence of social systems as well as the notion of alternative microcosms of human relationships. In the series Re-hearsed, Mirrored (2024), Chong Wai captures bodies in movements that reveal their mutual emotional connection; they embrace each other, dance together, support and protect one another. Developed from the video and performance work Falling Reversely (2021/2024), created in reaction to anti-Asian racist hostility, Rehearsed, Mirrored reproduces relations based on the principle of care. The movement process of the portrayed figures is reminiscent of choreography; the sense of motion is emphasized by a deliberately blurred drawing style and overlaid glass and mirror panels. Dense and overlapping lines make the bodies appear almost abstract, causing them to elude tangibility. And yet, for us as viewers, it is difficult to detach from these bodies, as the altering reflections draw us into the depicted scenes and let us interact with them directly.

Originally from Venezuela and based in Brussels, with the solo project Bear Bones, Lay Low, musician Ernesto González Rondon (born 1988) explores shifting psychedelic moods in electronic sound. His music has evolved from spontaneous bedroom noise- and drone-based jams to colorful synthesizer tunes where entrancing rhythms meet dubby use of effects. He has also been part of psychedelic free-form jam band Silvester Anfang / Sylvester Anfang II since 2006 and is involved in numerous projects including Tav Exotic, a beat driven electronic duo with fellow artist Weird Dust. Rondon released music in various formats on labels such as Sloow Tapes, Troglosound, Full Of Nothing or KRAAK. In late 2024 he was one of five artists (Trần Uy Đürc, OKO DJ, Ploy, Officium) which remixed the track Tempentary Dance by Cloud Management for dispari.

Gregor Darman (born 1997) is a sound artist based in Düsseldorf. He studied art history at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Sound & Image at the Robert Schumann Hochschule (IMM - Institute for Music and Media). Darman is a co-founder of the record label Candomblé and has been involved in various music projects such as Folie 2, LSW, and Phaser Boys. Since 2017, he has curated and performed at Salon des Amateurs, Düsseldorf, where he has been a resident DJ since 2021. Darman interweaves his ongoing research with a drive to showcase 'important' music as part of his artistic practice, working at the intersection of pop and experimental music and presenting innovative sounds from the past and present as a form of expression.

E.I. the Blob (since 2018)—also known by the nickname 'Blob'—was brought to life as a visual organism by artist Annika Larsson. Blob reacts interactively to sound and touch in both existence and creation, demonstrating new ways of dealing with the moving image and with relationships between human and non-human beings. Blob was created as part of the artistic research project Non-Knowledge, Laughter & The Moving Image, which was led by Larsson from 2018 to 2022 and carried out at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and the HFBK - Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg. The name 'E.I.' could stand for 'Earthificial Intelligence', but according to the artist, it is also possible that the acronyms A.I. or E.T. were adopted incorrectly. Blob has participated in exhibitions and concerts at the Stockholm Academic Forum; KunstWerke, Berlin; Konstakademien Stockholm; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Teatro Goldoni, Venice and Bildmuseet Umeå, among others.

Matti Gajek (born 1984) produces and performs electronic music under the stage name Gajek. Born in the GDR Gajek reflects on the emotional echo of ruptures and discontinuities: music about odd timelines, grief and ecstasy, weird youth cultures, hidden fashion codes, personal tragedies and strange haircuts. Remediating the forgotten archive of East German subcultures from a contemporary perspective Gajek's music explores evolving textures of high-energy digital composition. In a unique production technique Gajek fractures and inverses modern genres emphasizing their out-of-jointness: creating oscillating atmospheres combined with haunting lyrical work. Since 2014, Gajek has released five studio albums on Labels such as Stroom, Infinite Greyscale, Throttle Records and more. He composes music for films, theatre, exhibitions and performances, most recently for the critically acclaimed film The Investigation by RP Kahl and the award-winning short film Fear does not Exist by Anna Zett. In 2022, Gajek launched mix series Socialist Realness on UK radio Resonance Extra focusing on avant-garde music produced in the GDR and shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. Gajek has performed at major international venues and festivals, including CTM Festival, Berghain, Printworks London, Traumabar Und Kino, ADE Amsterdam, Melt Festival, MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many more. Matti Gajek lives and works in Berlin.

Keta Gavasheli (born 1990) is an artist based in Düsseldorf. She studied architecture at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts before pursuing Fine Arts at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she completed her Meisterschülerin under Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster in 2024. At the core of her work is an inquiry into seemingly impermeable boundaries. Through photography and film, she explores the dynamic relationship between vision and consciousness. As a resident of the Salon des Amateurs, Gavasheli has been performing regularly and curating events for the past two years, fostering collaborations with artists in the space. Her current explorations in sonic storytelling incorporate sound, voice, and both spoken and sung word. Through sound, language, and performance, Gavasheli looks at how bodies engage with their surroundings, considering presence—whether through voice, speech, or song—as an act of resistance and an embodied form of communication within socio-political contexts.

Satch Hoyt (born 1957) is a spiritualist, a believer in ritual and retention. A visual artist and a musician, his diverse and multifaceted body of work—whether sculpture, sound installation, painting, musical performance, or musical recording—is united in its investigation of the "Eternal Afro-Sonic Signifier", a term coined by Hoyt and that refers to the "mnemonic network of sound" of enslaved Africans' during the Middle Passage. It was, and is, a hard-won somatic tool kit for remembering where you come from and who you are—and maybe, where you're going—against all the many odds. Of Jamaican-British descent, Hoyt was born in London and currently lives in Berlin. Having also spent time in New York, Paris, Mombasa, and Australia's Northern Territory—all points on the many-sided and ever-expanding star that is the African Diaspora—he is an intimate observer of the sites of convergence where the Diaspora comes together to sing, shout, and be, reflecting itself to itself. Employing the shared tool kit to connect, express, and commiserate across centuries and oceans, Hoyt taps into aural and oral echoes as well as into those retained in the historical and material record. Hoyt has participated in Ten Thousand Suns, 24th Sydney Biennale (2024); Always, Already, There, HKW Berlin 2024, UnMuting Sonic Restitutions, MARKK Museum Hamburg (2024); Afro-Sonic Mapping, HKW Berlin (2019); Dakart, the Dakar Biennale Senegal (2018); The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Prospect 4, (the USA Triennial) (2017); The Beautiful Game, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2014); Radical Presence, Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Grey Art Gallery, New York University (2013); Newtopia: The State of Human Rights, Museum for the Holocaust and Human Rights, Mechelen (2012) and The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (2011).

Curators: Ngyuen Phuong-Dan + Merie Radtke