In conjunction with Kraftwerk – Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 at The Museum of Modern Art, an eight-channel video and sound installation especially developed for the exhibition is now on display in the MoMA PS1 Performance Dome.
Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider founded Kraftwerk In Düsseldorf in 1970 and set up the pioneering Kling Klang studio, where all Kraftwerk's albums have been conceived and composed. By the mid-1970s, Kraftwerk had achieved international recognition for its revolutionary experimentation with sound and imagery. Its compositions, which feature distant melodies, multilingual vocals, robotic Beats, custom-made vocoders, and computer speech, anticipated the impact technology would have on art and everyday life, capturing the human condition in an age of mobility and telecommunication. Kraftwerk's innovative looping techniques and mechanized rhythms, which had a major influence on the early development of hip-hop and electronic dance music, remain among the most commonly sampled sounds across a wide range of musical genres. Kraftwerk uses robotics and other technical innovations in its live performances, illustrating the belief that humans and machines make equal contributions in the creation of art.
As part of Kraftwerk – Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, the installation at MoMA PS1 is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Director, MoMA PS1, and Chief Curator at Large,The Museum of Modern Art, with the assistance of Eliza Ryan, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA PS1 and Lizzie Gorfaine, Project Coordinator, Exhibitions, MoMA PS1.
