Thom Kubli (born 1969, Frankfurt am Main) is a Swiss-German composer and artist known for installation art and sculptures that often deploy sound as a significant element, using digital technologies and material configurations that increase the viewers' spatial perception.
Biography
Kubli was affiliated with creating music from an early age while growing up in Heidelberg, Germany.
He learned how to play the piano and guitar and later began working with multitrack recording, midi-sequencers and keyboards during the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he produced electronic music for labels such as Harthouse and Source Records. He became internationally known under his pseudonym Planet Jazz. and True Frequencies, the latter in collaboration with Boris Hiesserer. In the mid-1990s he turned towards experimental performances and productions that researched the nexus between sound and various visual media.
After moving to Cologne in 1998, he studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne from 1999 to 2004, where he became influenced by post-structural philosophy. He expanded his artistic practice by embedding new materials such as plants, collagen and genetically engineered biomass. At this time, he also began using software and transmission technology as artistic media. He also began an exchange with scientists and scientific institutions that would build momentum in his working practice.
In 2002 he developed the work Deterritoriale Schlingen in collaboration with physicist Sven Mann. It was shown at Berlin's Transmediale (2003) and awarded an Honorable Mention. In the same year, he presented the installation piece Virilio Cubes at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 2004, he showed the installation Determinale Verschweifungen with Sven Mann as a solo show at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.
Subsequently, he exhibited works at Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (2004); Eyebeam in New York City (2005); Transmediale in Berlin (2005); and Laboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico City (2009). In 2010 he received a production stipend from EMPAC, Troy, for the work Float!Thinktank 21. The installation was exhibited in the same year at EMPAC and at Marian Spore in New York City.
In 2012, he produced the piece Black Hole Horizon in cooperation with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as part of a further production stipend at EMPAC. The overall development of the installation took approximately four years. Black Hole Horizon was presented at Kunstverein Ingolstadt (2015), Ars Electronica in Linz (2016), FILE-Festival in São Paulo (2017), and The Lowry in Manchester (2017).
Since 2003, Thom Kubli has been working as a composer, director and author for several European broadcast stations such as WDR, SWR, ORF and SRF.
He directed over 20 feature- and radioplay productions and contributed over 30 radioplay compositions.
Awards and grants
In 2003 and 2005, Thom Kubli was awarded an Honorable Mention from Transmediale in Berlin. In 2003 he received a stipend from Junge Akademie der Künste in Berlin and won the first prize in the ‘Interaction’ category at the Viper Festival in Basel, Switzerland. He received a research-stipend from EMPAC in 2005 and from TESLA in Berlin in 2006. He was awarded a production stipend from Kunststiftung NRW in 2009. In 2010, he was given the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts within the framework of a production stipend at EMPAC. In 2012, he received another production stipend at EMPAC.
Selected works and projects
Black Hole Horizon
For Black Hole Horizon Thom Kubli developed an arrangement of three sculptures that resemble ship hornets. Through a delicate electromechanical construction each hornet is able to create a huge soap bubble while producing a tone. The various sizes and forms of the hornets produce three different pitches. The audience can walk through the installation site witnessing the transformation of sound into ephemeral sculptures that continuously reconfigure the space. The construction of the hornet sculptures began in 2012 in collaboration with the Rensselaer Poytechnic Institute in Troy. A first version of the installation was shown at EMPAC in 2012. After further research and development, Black Hole Horizon was presented at Ars Electronica in Linz (2016), FILE in São Paulo (2017) and The Lowry in Manchester (2017).