Bernhard Leitner is considered a pioneer of the “sound installation” art form. Since the late 1960s, he has been working in the field between architecture, sculpture, and music, looking at sound as an architectural element that allows space to emerge and studying the relationship between sound, space, and the body. Bernhard Leitner’s works are in line with the characteristics of pluralism, transboundary, and decentralization of postmodernism. His works attach great importance to interaction with the audience, making the audience become a part of the works, which is also in line with the idea of emphasizing audience interaction in postmodernism.
Bernhard Leitner studied architecture, so his perception and understanding of space are much deeper than that of many artists and musicians. In his works, sound is often displayed as part of the installation. In one of his works, Cascade, which I like very much, sound “flows down” from a height like a waterfall and gradually spreads to different spatial areas. The work uses physical space and sound to make the viewer feel as if they are in a waterfall. Unlike the real flow of water, Cascade’s sound flow is simulated through changes in sound source, frequency, and volume.
The statement “I can hear better with my knees than with my calves” may sound absurd, but it can be understood to mean that sounds move at different speeds in a space; they rise and fall, resonate back and forth, and transmit dynamic, ever-changing volumes of space within the static concourse of the building’s frame. This special space cannot be visually fixed or observed from the outside, but can be felt throughout the body. Therefore, Bernhard Leitner believes that sound is not only perceived by the ear, but is experienced through the entire body, and that each part of the body can hear different sounds.
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