Studio Martin Backes
Kottbusser Damm 101
10967 Berlin
Germany
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Welcome to the website of artist, multi-disciplinary technologist, director, hacker, and composer Martin Backes
‘Kinetic Walkers’ emerged from the project NOOSTOPIA I created together with Moritz Ostruschnjak for Theater Bielefeld. The work is a interactive robotic installation that consists of several robots. The robots could be controlled in various ways, which includes using real-time live control and pre-programmed control including a movement […]
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‘Music Automats’ grew out of the project NOOSTOPIA, a dance and theatre piece, I created together with the choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak for Theater Bielefeld. The work is a interactive robotic sound installation that consists of several robotic instruments. The robots could be controlled in various ways, which includes […]
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After months of hard work, I am happy to share some exciting news. Together with Choreographer Moritz Ostruschnjak, I created a dance and theatre piece for Theater Bielefeld called NOOSTOPIA. We created lots of robots, a crazy stage & lightning design coming straight out of a virtual world, […]
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About ‘What do I know? I am just a machine?!’ is an augmented reality work asking questions about identity, repression, inequality and injustice, which focuses on the experience of a marginalised group – the machines. The machines talk to us! They emote! They banter! They are on the […]
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About In this work, seemingly purposeless actions are repeated over and over again. A surreal, absurd situation dealing with the contemporary individual seeking to control nature in a way, which increasingly resembles the monotony of operating machines we have created ourselves. The belief in the ability to exert […]
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About I am sitting in a machine; is an algorithmic work that begins with a recording of an artificial human voice reciting a text which is then run through an MP3 encoder over and over again. With each iteration of the loop, one may hear the artefacts of the […]
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About I am sitting in a machine; is an algorithmic work that begins with a recording of an artificial human voice reciting a text which is then run through an MP3 encoder over and over again. With each iteration of the loop, one may hear the artefacts of […]
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About “What do machines sing of?” is a fully automated machine, which endlessly sings number-one ballads from the 1990s. As the computer program performs these emotionally loaded songs, it attempts to apply the appropriate human sentiments. This behavior of the device seems to reflect a desire, on the […]
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In May 2014, I collaborated with M.I.A. for her “Double Bubble Trouble” music video with my very own Pixelhead mask. The masks are strictly limited to four, each worn in the music video, signed and numbered by M.I.A. and myself. Pixelhead Pixelhead – M.I.A. Edition 2014 Edition of […]
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For WHITEvoid and Bertron Schwarz Frey, we (aconica – creative lab for sound + media) worked on an interactive multimedia installation for the reopening of the Mendelssohn-Haus museum.
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I cooperated with Georg Klein for the work ’toposonie :: spree’ – a participatory soundwalk along the river Spree in Berlin-Mitte. About toposonie :: spree 2013 Permanent sound walk with 32 sound points at the banks of river Spree, Berlin-Mitte for smartphones with earphones total duration: 90 min. […]
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Gedankenscherz – Interactive (gesture controlled) audiovisual installation About The museum of the future must be alive! This was the most important insight that Gottfried Wilhlem Leibniz gained from his research trips through Europe. The utopia that he described in his 1675 essay, Drôle de Pensée (Funny Thought = […]
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After a long process, it took me almost a year, its finally done. The Pixelhead art work is now available as a limited Edition of 333 pieces. Please find all the information you need to order Pixelhead (still available!) below. Photos from the Artconnect Berlin Exhibition Please note […]
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About Pixelhead Dimensions: 60 x 30 cm Material: satin stretch, fabric printing color, photo Worried about your picture showing up on Google Streetview? Sick of photos of yourself appearing on sites like Facebook? Here`s the solution! The full face mask Pixelhead acts as media camouflage, completely shielding the […]
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About I created this composition called Dron:ing especially for the third edition of the Hydrophonia sound art festival. Hydrophonia is a festival dedicated to hydrophonic sound art and raising public awareness of how man-made ocean noise affects marine life. The festival will take place on 29-30 October 2010 […]
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About Earth will kill you… Dimensions: variable Material: metal, coins, puppets, lemons, candle, fire, circuit board, LED, cable clips, desk, loudspeakers, stand “Earth will kill you…” is a homage to one of Joseph Beuys multiples called “Capri Battery” from 1985. “Capri Battery” is a yellow lightbulb in a […]
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About Six Easy Pieces Duration: 00h 10m 56s (loop) Media: 3 A/V hard drives Technic: 3 A/V harddrives, 1 Beamer, 2 Plasma TVs, 6 JBL Control One speakers, 6 channel professional amplifier, construction Being the last part of the Perception Trilogy ; a three-part cycle exploring the imperceptible […]
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About “The Number Stations” compilation project has been released through the established PublicSpaces Lab netlabel. I composed a track for this compilation called “Obfuzzcation”. Its my very own interpretation of the so called numbers station phenomenon. You can download the entire album in MP3 and Flac format. The […]
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Dazz & Ultramoodem – Live DJ/VJ MashUp Performance About On the 18th of November 2009 I was invited to the 10th anniversary of the Hasso-Plattner-Institute Potsdam to create a unique A/V MashUp Performance together with Moo from Ultramoodem.
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About This is just the “Vertical Wire Music” photo edition. “Vertical Wire Music” is a reinterpretation of Alvin Luciers “Music On A Long Thin Wire” by Martin Backes, Heidrun Schramm and Christoph Illing. Please find more information about the installation here Vertical Wire Music Installation
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About Vertical Wire Music (co-op with Heidrun Schramm and Christoph Illing) Dimensions: variable Material: amplifier, sine tone generator, magnets, transducer, mixing desk, piano music wire, contact microphone, construction Press “This version by Backes, Illing, and Schramm is not a performance, per se — it does not strictly abide […]
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About I designed and built my very own noise synthesizer made out of simple electronics components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, integrated circuit chips). By the use of such primitive analog computers in combination with feedback, sensors and other inputs, ‘Blue Noise Box’ creates it`s very unique sound. Blue […]
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About This piece, entitled “Plastic Commander”, examines how children absorb and attempt to deal with violence in the media and on the global stage. In its examination, it focuses specifically on the use of violence and war-themed toys in our society, posing the question of why children are […]
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