NXO25 – Critical Void with Z'EV

Critical Void encapsulates everything the Nexialist Organization set out to do: create projects at the intersection of architecture, music, and visual design through shared creative methods and theoretical inquiry. 

A site-specific audio analysis and performance, Critical Void examined the planning crisis of Munich’s MaximiliansForum through sound, dialogue, and documentation.



Critical Void performance, MaximiliansForum München. Photos: Andreas Graf 

Critical Void is an analytical audio work based on an urban study of Munich’s MaximiliansForum and its complex planning history. Developed by Z’EV and Mark Kammerbauer, the project combined interviews, archival research, and live performance into a sonic investigation of urban transformation.
The MaximiliansForum, located beneath the intersection of Maximilianstraße and Altstadtring, was originally conceived as a traffic tunnel but repurposed as a pedestrian underpass and later as an art space. Its ambiguous spatial identity became the conceptual nucleus of the project.

After conducting interviews with planners and cultural representatives, the team composed a performance that dramatized the tension between modernist infrastructure and social renewal. On July 24, 2013, Critical Void premiered on-site, introduced by Elisabeth Hartung of Munich’s Department of Culture. The performance unfolded in two halves. The first was a dramatized conversation between Alexandra von Bolz’n and Kammerbauer, accompanied by Z’EV’s ambient percussion, revealing the institutional and social contradictions that shaped the site. The second half, titled MythEater, expressed these contradictions musically — an interpretation of Yuki’s Song from Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress symbolizing the clash between tradition and modernism.

Critical Void thus transformed an architectural anomaly into an audible urban critique: a meditation on planning, crisis, and the persistent resonance of the modern city. PLATFORM published the project documentation in their 2015 book "Transforming Design".


 

This is a special NXO25 – 25th Anniversary of the Nexialist Organization post. 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Nexialist Octomeron

Image
Since I wear a cap with the Nexialist Octomeron and people asked me what it is about, it's my turn here to elaborate. The Nexialist Octomeron is a geometrical shape with eight corners. It was developed as a graphic symbol in the course of the ANGEL POSITION album project. Its origin is a photo of a building in the Dutch city of Almere. The moment I saw the Woontoren Silverline residential tower by Claus en Kaan Architecten in 2006, I knew it would be relevant to me at some point in the future. In 2007 I began writing and recording songs for what later became the ANGEL POSITION album produced for my music alias, Fragment King. The planned CD release of the album with MHz Records required illustrations, and one particular inspiration was soon found in the BLEACH anime. In one episode, Gin Ichimaru releases his Zanpakutō and, in follow his Bankai form, Kamishini no Yari. It cuts through the surrounding city with such force that the severed parts are lifted from the structures that su...
Read more

THE GARDEN – with Z'EV

Image
I just found out there are still tapes available with our 2011 recording "The Garden", a nearly 20 minute track we released under the name "The.Bänd". They can be ordered through the Z'EV online archive. Percussion, Arrangement, Lyrics: Stefan Joel Weisser / Z'EV Vocals: Alexandra Von Bolz´n Bass, Synthesizers: Mark Kammerbauer / Fragment King   Link: https://www.thezevarchive.com/ Bandcamp digital version: https://zevalexandravonbolznfragmentking.bandcamp.com/    
Read more

CRITICAL VOID Maximiliansforum Z'EV + Fragment King

Image
Critical Void is an analytical audio work based on an urbanist study of the MaximiliansForum in Munich and its planning history. By employing interviews with key individuals and document research, Z‘EV, Alexandra von Bolz'n and Mark Kammerbauer developed a site-specific audio performance and work that was performed live on site on 24.07.2013. The project was curated by the Kulturreferat of the City of Munich. This is a step-by-step documentation of the project. The location that includes the MaximiliansForum art space can be found beneath the crossing of Maximilianstrasse and Altstadtring in Munich. It has escalators that are currently in disuse. It is denominated officially as pedestrian tunnel. It is by far the largest of its kind in the city. Rumor has that original planning intended a traffic tunnel. So, what happened here? On Wednesday, 24.07.2013 at 19:00 we performed CRITICAL VOID live after a very friendly introduction by Elisabeth Hartung of the Culture Offi...
Read more