"Novaya Zemlya" means New Land.

This is a audiovisual performance about the artist's fascination with uncharted territories.
It is made of found footage material from archives to become a
travelogue of other people's memories.
The point of of view and the explorer's listening position are gradually dissolved
by the inescapable gravity that wants to transform all memories into
remembrance.
The firmament becomes a mirror that reflects routes and maps,
as if a land that can be reached could ever be a true New Land.

About Thomas Köner

Thomas Köner (1965, Bochum) studied at Musikhochschule Dortmund and CEM Studio Arnhem. He is working across the spheres of audiovisual arts, installation work and music production, and excelled in all the areas of his artistic activity, receiving awards such as Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica (Linz), Transmediale Award (Berlin), Best Young Artist at ARCO (Madrid), and many more. His familiarity with both the visual and sonic arts resulted in numerous commissions to create music for silent films for the Auditorium du Musée du Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, and others. Likewise, he created installations for diverse situations for example ISEA International Symposium on Electronic Art and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Santiago de Chile. His works are part of the collections of significant museums such as Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou Paris, Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal. Thomas Köner is continuing his close relationship with sound art by creating radiophonic works for the national Radio in Germany and France (Deutschlandradio Kultur, WDR Studio Akustische Kunst, SWR, Radio France), while also working as a live performer and composer. His recordings are released by Touch and Denovali. As producer of Porter Ricks he is one of the pioneers of Dub Techno and currently signed to Tresor Records Berlin (current album Anguilla Electrica TRESOR 295, July 2017).

Photo credit: Still from Novaya Zemlya byThomas Köner

Photo credit: Portrait of the artist. Photo by Ivana Neimarevic