Jono Podmore, Darkness At Noon; Gvoon

The video work "Darkness At Noon" was recorded on Tuesday night, December 5, 2023 at 00:10 by Gvoon with Arthur Schmidt.

The video work with music by Jono Podmore (Kumo) was created in collaboration with Gvoon. For this purpose, Jono Podmore came here on January 13, 2024 to another place where the black rubber cell of the Stasi is set up in order to make various sound recordings himself inside the cell. He recorded the sounds made when the cell walls were struck and developed rhythms from them, which also included the sounds of the original keys from other cells, the grille above the ventilation shaft at the back of the rubber cell and his own breathing from the exertion. Jono limited himself to using only the sounds he recorded himself in the cell for the entire work on the music for the video piece. The rubber walls were amazingly reflective for him during the sound recordings and he later separated the direct sound from the indirect reverberation. He then went on to make a series of analog and digital edits: extreme time stretching, extreme dynamic control, vocoding and resonance filters together with the editing, etc. He then mixed the resulting piece of music in Dolby Atmos (7.1.2) to enhance the feeling of being surrounded by the walls of the cell, using three-dimensional sound to create a claustrophobic feeling rather than a sense of space. A stereo rendition of the piece was used in this video work. A full three-dimensional performance is planned. The title of the video work "Darkness At Noon" was chosen by Jono and comes from the novel by Arthur Koestler, which the writer Duncan Fallowell recommended to Jono at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine - a reminder of what imprisonment under a brutal authoritarian regime means.

You can find more information about the extensive work of Jono Podmore alias Kumo directly at: http://www.psychomat.comor on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jono.podmoreand https://www.facebook.com/Kumosolo. Jono also publishes some of his work on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@jonopodmore

The sound used by Jono Podmore can still be found solo under the name "Darkness At Noon" on Bandcamp at: https://kumo.bandcamp.com/track/darkness-at-noon.

The entire "Innen" project is essentially based on the one black rubber cell that I rebuilt here in a different location. This cell as a space, or as a place that has been created, has stayed with me since my first contact with it in Hohenschönhausen. Maybe also because when you enter this room, it just presses down on everything. You can't put it into words. At least I can't. In this project, this black padded cell serves as a kind of metaphor for all the other rooms in this world that have been turned into places, into which people are brought by unscrupulous others into an exceptional situation, into which those affected are then completely alone,,,, There is something in the minds of those people, even if there is a certain kind of empathy, i.e. the ability and willingness to understand and feel the feelings, thoughts, emotions or even the thoughts of other people. Whereby everyone thinks differently,,,

This black rubber cell (detention cell, sedation room) of the Stasi exists in reality far below as a real existing Raum 2 at the lowest point in the Basement des North wing (cell wing) of the former zcentral pre-trial detention center  (UHA) of the Ministry for State Securityt (MfS) der German Democratic Republic (GDR) and today's Memorial in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.

Innen is deliberately not externally determined in any respect, neither financially nor intellectually.

Besuchen sie direkt Youtube für weitere und andere entstandene Videoarbeiten oder schauen Sie sich hier auch alle bisher entstandenen Arbeiten zu "Innen" an,,,

The "Innen" project is supported by GMO - The Label supervised.