BROKEN ECHOS

AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION

BROKEN ECHOS explores the inner topography of migraine – a state somewhere between overstimulation, exhaustion and the attempt to maintain a sense of meaning amidst chaos. The installation combines sculptural elements, video and drawing to create a space that allows visitors to experience physical and emotional resonances.

Twelve hammers hang from the ceiling in the centre, whilst a thirteenth rests on the windowsill. They come from the estate of the artist’s father. As everyday objects, they bear the marks of their use; as an ensemble, they become symbols of a family lineage: three generations living with migraine. The hammers also represent the throbbing, pulsating physicality of the condition – the pressure, the force, the recurrence.

The sculptural structure is complemented by two digital drawings on fabric from the series *31 Threads of Pain* (No. 6 and No. 26). Fragmented faces, held together by thin red threads, are put to the test: what breaks, what holds – and at what cost? The frayed edges allow the motifs to spill out into the space, reinforcing the impression of a state that never quite comes to rest.

The video element of the installation shows superimposed footage of waves, slowed down and rendered boundless. Here, the sea becomes a metaphor for migraine: rhythmic, unpredictable, oscillating between tension and release. The flowing movements contrast with the heaviness of the hammers – a tension between pressure and expansiveness.

Sound forms the second axis of the work. In close collaboration with the Kiel-based DJ Sibbedaiah, a sound composition was created that unfolds in four phases: sensory overload, pain, withdrawal, exhaustion. Digital peaks, pulsating lows and long pauses create an acoustic dynamic that shapes the space whilst simultaneously modulating the visitors’ perceptions. The option to enter the space with or without ear protection becomes part of the installation: a play on distance, self-protection and closeness.

Cards laid out on display invite visitors to jot down their own thoughts, feelings or associations on the subject of migraine. Affixed to the walls, these voices become a growing space of resonance that extends the installation and opens up a dialogue.

BROKEN ECHOS makes visible and audible what migraine often keeps hidden: fractures, overlaps, patterns of endurance. The installation is an attempt to translate pain into form, sound and movement – fragmentary, multi-layered, open-ended. The visitors’ responses demonstrate just how immediate the impact of BROKEN ECHOS is. One visitor said, upon entering the room, that the combination of sound, light and confinement felt “exactly like a migraine” – a moment in which art and experience became one and the same. Another emphasised how important it is to finally give space to this under-represented topic.

CURATORIAL REFLECTION
Dr Elisabeth Böhm (literary and cultural studies scholar)

Andrea Geipel’s installation *Broken Echos* moved and impressed me deeply. It is a powerful work that has more facets than it reveals at first glance; these unfold and reveal themselves as one experiences, observes and discusses the piece within the space.

The combination of different media and materials invites us to reflect on the parts both individually and in relation to one another, whilst the aesthetic quality constantly adds to the sensory experience. The floating hammers are fascinating in their own right, but against the backdrop of the film they appear both to be in motion and to function as playful elements.

They hang from almost invisible threads, which in turn correlate with the striking red threads of the two works on the wall. There, the threads pierce through the images, lending them both colour and an extra dimension, whilst the hammers are held aloft by theirs without the threads themselves being visible as the elements that determine their position.

This aesthetic dimension is shaped by experiences and memories that the installation helps to convey – memories of connection and loss, illness and the shifting of perception, accessibility and physicality form the basis of Andrea Geipel’s installation. It is a powerful and striking symbol of these themes, without being reduced to them.

Rather, it succeeds in creating an aesthetic and sensory evocation of migraine, its history within the family and its presence in the body, which powerfully conveys to me, as a visitor, just how many dimensions there are to illness and how an artistic work creates material and symbolic meanings for these facets.

KEY DETAILS

BROKEN ECHOS was created as part of the ‘Listening Sessions’ organised by Atelier umraum e.V., a format in which artists and DJs explore sound and space together, and was funded by the City of Kiel.

The installation took place on 14 and 22 November, from 5.00 pm to 9.00 pm on both days, at Impulswerk Alte Mu e.V.

Broken Echos was presented in a main room measuring approximately 18 m², whilst the DJ played in the adjoining antechamber of around 9 m². The projection was created using a projector, and the hammers from my father’s estate were suspended from the ceiling using hooks and transparent fishing line – simple means which, when combined, created a dense, physical atmosphere.