“Solar Critters” is a sound installation by Andreas Zißler, Fabian Lanzmaier, and Klemens Kohlweis where the entire environment transforms into an instrument. Sounds are created by primitive light-sensitive electronic circuits that respond dynamically to the travelling sun, subtly shifting through various states and, thereby changing their sounds and behaviour throughout the day. The sounds are amplified through three parabolic audio reflectors. 

These speakers create a narrow sound beam that gets reflected, absorbed, and redirected by the topology of the surrounding landscape with its forests, hills, bushes, and pits. Moving shadows, weather conditions, sun positions, and changing of the seasons become parameters in a long-lasting generative composition. Visitors are invited to wander around in the field, and thereby actively engage with the sonic environment of the solar critters.

Supported by:
European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Austrian Embassy Tallinn

Andreas Zißler, Fabian Lanzmaier and Klemens Kohlweis are transdisciplinary artists based in Vienna. Sharing an experimental approach and coming from different backgrounds their collaborative work operates in the intersections of architecture, sculpture, sound and media art, resulting in site specific installations and performances.

Andreas Zißler webpage
Fabian Lanzmaier webpage
Klemens Kohlweis Instagram