An Interview with Stephan Von Huene on his Audio-Kinetic Sculptures

Leonardo,Vol. 5, pp. 69-72. PergamonPress 1972. Printedin Great Britain AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHAN VON HUENE ON HIS AUDIO-KINETIC SCULPTURES Dorothy Newmark” Interviewer’snote-Stephan Von Huene was born inLos Angeles, California in September 1932 and is currently residing there at 1336 Sutherland Ave. He studied art at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and at the University of Californiaat Los Angeles C1-41. He teaches atpresent at the CaliforniaInstitute of the Arts in Valencia,California. Newmark-‘Tap Dancer’ (1969) (cf. Fig. 1) is your latest audio-kineticsculpture. Do you feel it is the culmination of a period in your work? Von Huene-All of the sculpturesthat were in my 1969 exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art were the culmination of a certain direction; that is, the use of biomorphic forms activated by a player-piano mechanism and accompanied by music. ‘KaleidophonicDog’ (1967) (cf. Fig. 2) was my first machine to operate successfully. A dog is *Computer artist living at 820 Hermosa Drive, N.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87110, U S A . (Received 22 November 1969.) Fig. 1. ‘Tap Dancer’ by Stephan Von Huene, audiokinetic sculpture, wood, foam covered with leather and pneumaticsystem,height4 ft, width4ft, depth 3 ft, 1969. lying on its back with parts of it moving, accompanied by sounds of a wooden drum, 8 organ pipes and a xylophone. Used in the machinearefiveloops of 2 in. tape with perforated programs that move along a tracker-bar arrangement. The pneumatic system causes parts to move and the drum, organ pipes and xylophoneto produce sounds. N. Would you describe the mechanism you use? V. H. The basicpart of it is avalvethat actslikea switch and a tracker bar over which rides a perforated tape. When the perforations in the paper tape line up with holes in the tracker bar it turns on the valve switch and allows air to be pumped out of Fig. 2. ‘Kaleidophonic Dog, by Stephan Von Huene, audio-kineticsculpture, wood, wood covered with leather and pneumatic system, height 7 ft, width 3 ft depth 3ft, 1967. 69 70 Dorothy Newmark a small bellows that has a hammer attached to it. The hammer may hit a drum or it may operate another small bellows that opens a palate valve connected to one or more organ pipes. The organ pipes are operated by an air blower. The perforated tape, or several of them, can be rewound automatically ; the system can also be operated during the rewinding phase. If anyone is interested in the details of the system I use, I would be glad to provide them. N. What led you to use the player-piano mechanism ? V. H. I was at first simply interested infindingout how it worked. I found that the 11.5 inch playerpiano paper strip was too wide for my purposes and now use a 2 in. paper tape. I punch holes in the tape at random or with a specific program of sounds in mind. I would like to make it possible for anyone to prepare the tapes, so they would produce sound combinations to suit themselves-either ordered sound sequences, which are, I suppose, what we call music or haphazard sound arrangements. N. Would you describe your most recent piece, ‘Rosebud Annunciator’ (1969) (cf. Fig. 3). V. H. It has an overall appearance of early California architecture, heavy and oak-furniture-like, an influencethatstemsfrom a very romantic part of my early life in Pasadena, California. On top of the machine is a leather rose, made up of sixteen sections that can be inflated and deflated. Then, on each side there is a post with an inflatable, deflatable leather sphere in a box on top of it. connected by tubing to the pneumatic system. The center part is Fig. 3. ‘Rosebud Annunciator’ by Stephan VonHuene, audio-kinetic sculpture, wood, formed leather pneumatic parts andpneumatic system, height 7 ft, width 8 ft, depth 4 ft, 1969. made of a large xylophone with twenty-four notes, two cymbals, a drum and an octave of reeds. N. I note that ‘Rosebud’ is 7 ft high and 8 ft wide. What led to the center part being so large, was it the xylophone...