The Well-Tempered Hygrometer

The »Well-Tempered Hygrometer« by artist and architect Anna Kubelík was an installative and constructive sculpture from 2013. The title reveals the hybrid character of the work: on the one hand, the artist has conceived it as a geometric interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier by making very direct and precise references to this work which is fundamental for keyboard instruments. On the other hand, the construction is a measuring instrument with which changing atmospheric conditions in the surrounding space room are indicated. The work’s conceptual basis is therefore both technically and artistically based on measuring, tempering or tuning – as is done in music – and the capturing and display of invisible environmental conditions in space – which is otherwise performed by technical apparatus.

The sculpture consists of more than four thousand individual parts, which were each cut, filed, drilled, punched, and painted several times by hand from ash and pinewood, as well as horsehair, lead weights, and aluminum connections.
In the now third and latest version of the work, Anna Kubelík developed together with the drummer and sound artist Oliver Schmid a sonic performance in which Schmid brought both the components of the installation and the spaces themselves to sound and resonate through his playing. More detailed information about sculpture and performance in English and German can be found here.

The sound performances in the Object Lab accompanied the exhibition Stretching Materialities by designers and researchers of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, which could be visited in the adjacent building of the Tieranatomisches Theater and was framed by an introduction and a talk moderated by Christiane Bail and Matthias Seidel from drj art projects, a curated art space for contemporary conceptual and minimal art in Berlin.

Upcoming Dates

Friday, January 21, 2021, 6:00 pm (sold out)
Friday, January 21, 2021, 7:00 pm (Finissage)

For registration for the performances on the respective dates see here.

The event will take place with 2G+ regulations.

We ask for your understanding that due to the pandemic, there is only a limited participation capacity for the performance event per date and, in addition, a binding registration is necessary in advance.

»The Well-Tempered Hygrometer« was part of the Berlin Science Week 2021. For an overview of all the contributions of »Matters of Activity« at the International Science Festival, see here.