Rolf Julius
Rolf Julius was born in 1939 in northern Germany, where he received classical training in the fine arts. In the late 1970s, he gradually discovered certain contemporary composers (in particular La Monte Young, at festivals and on the radio), and became increasingly involved in acoustic performances which he gave in public parks and at alternative venues. In various experimental ways he explored the possibilities offered by sound broadcasting techniques, but even at this early stage (and this would be a constant factor in his approach) the works were developing with an on-going concern for the relationship with the space of the world, and with nature.
Rolf Julius was born in 1939 in northern Germany, where he received classical training in the fine arts. In the late 1970s, he gradually discovered certain contemporary composers (in particular La Monte Young, at festivals and on the radio), and became increasingly involved in acoustic performances which he gave in public parks and at alternative venues. In various experimental ways he explored the possibilities offered by sound broadcasting techniques, but even at this early stage (and this would be a constant factor in his approach) the works were developing with an on-going concern for the relationship with the space of the world, and with nature.
Grau Schweigt (Book)
*2024 stock* Pushing the envelope between visual arts and music, Rolf Julius began in the 1970s to develop his own concept that can be classified as belonging to the young genre of sound art in Germany. "I create a musical space with my images. And with my music I create a pictorial space. Images and music are on equal footing. They meet in the mind of the viewer/listener and give rise to something new." In this publication, Julius shows series of prints that serve as a score for piano and other…
Black (Red) Book
German/English. First edition. Softcover. Exhibition catalog for a show that ran September 16 through December 15, 2000. Essay by director Regina Coppola. Includes numerous color illustrations, biographical information, list of previous exhibitions, and a checklist.
Lautlos (Book)
Hardcover, 126 pages. English/German. This publication is an encounter between the works of two artists from different generations, who never met personally although both spent time in Berlin. Rolf Julius, who was born in 1939 in Wilhelmshaven and died in 2011 in Berlin, worked in the tradition of a "music for eyes and ears." Nina Canell, born in 1979 in Växjö, Sweden, belongs to a younger generation of artists whose three-dimensional work has an emphatically non-monumental quality. With an acut…
Resonanzen / Resonances
*2024 Stock * Hardcover, 224 pages + audio CD. Sound art is among the most fascinating phenomena in the development of modern artistic expression. It has changed our awareness of space and made us realize that our everyday surroundings are also resonance spaces. This book documents examples of the work of important protagonists of sound art while also providing essays on the subject from the standpoints of music science, philosophy and perceptual psychology
Contemporary German Sound Installations: Black listen to red (Red listen to black) (book)
*2024 Stock * English/Danish book, 68 pages, documenting a sound art exhibition held at Kunsthalle Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, in 2003
Klangi
*2024 Stock * English/Finnish Hardcover book, 52 pages with audio CD, documenting a sound art exhibition held at Museum of Archaeology and Contemporary Art Aboa Vetus Ars Nova in Turku, in 2010
El Hotsaren Espazioa. Begiradaren Denbora - Espacio Del Sonido. El Tiempo de la Mirada
*2024 Stock * English/Spanish Hardcover book, 128 pages with audio CD catalogue, documenting a sound art exhibition held at Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, Donostia - San Sebastiàn (Spain) in 1999.
Rot - Oder wie Laut ist Schwarz?
English/German. Kunsthalle Fridericianum between 1 April and 10 June, 2001. The booklet includes many images, a foreword in German by René Block; an essay entitled "Pictures of Sounds" by Volker Straebel in German with a side-by-side translation by George Goodman; a transcription of a conversation between Julius, Straebel and Aki Takahashi in English; Julius' chronology up to 2001, in German; and credits in German
Für den Blick Nach Unten (Book)
German/English. First edition. Softcover. 36 pages. Exhibition catalog for a show that ran March 11 through April 22, 2007. From the exhibition press release Rolf Julius is one of the most important representatives of contemporary sound art. His nuanced, mostly small-format sound installations explore the visibility of sounds, the audibility of images and the aesthetic and ontological potential of silence in the most subtle way. Since the 1960s, Julius, a constant border crosser between music a…
Schwarz Bleibt Stumm. (Book)
German, English. Rolf Julius's rare exhibition catalogue. Paperback, 22 cm, 79 pp. Ills.: b/w and color illustrations.
Wind (Artist' Book)
English/Japanese. Small naked speakers, iron plates, glass plates, and sand were some of the materials Rolf Julius used to create a sound space. The sky-like tranquil space was filled with whispering electronic sounds that somewhat resembled the songs of crickets.
Small Music (Book)
Rolf Julius has frequently been compared to John Cage for his attempts of integrating the world of common noises into the realm of sounds. "The surface of a sound interests me. Is it round or angled, grinding and raw, or smooth, etc." Julius thus creates extraordinary sound installations which can be described as "music for the eyes" and have secured him an unmistakeable place in the spectrum of contemporary art.
Walzer Für Ein Dreieck
Art-Record / Handmade Art Edition of 100 Copies in Box with 4 Prints & 2 Inserts. This is the first vinyl record by the legendary Rolf Julius (1939-2011) whose work is largely focused on “small music”, or sounds so subtle they’re barely discernible. One of the most significant artists in the border areas of music and fine art, Julius, like John Cage, works with the term of "silence", and sound is a liminal listening experience. The sounds in Julius' works have spatial and physical qualities such…
The Bob Lens Archives vol. 2
* Edition of 60 * Tracks from Bob Lens's rare album Geluiden (Sounds), the follow-up to the Woorden album he made with Simon Vinkenoog and Hans Wesseling. Music and sounds for his expo's provided by friends Rolf Julius and Henning Christiansen
Lullaby For The Fishes
Milestone reissue!! Here's the much needed reprint of Rolf Julius’ first and only (and almost impossible to find) LP from 1985 / Rolf Julius was the archetypal “sound artist“. He painted with sound, he colored with pitch, and his work demands the attention and open-mindedness of those who embrace modern art. He collected found sounds, and mixed them with prerecorded single tone notes which were then, electronically modified and filtered through tiny loudspeakers, transformed into music. De…
Apollo And Marsyas: Het Apollohuis 1980-1997 An Anthology Of New
A special bundle edition for this double CD-set with accompanying 4 books that provide an outline of the programme series as het Apollohuis from the fall of 1980 to the mid 90s. Four catalogues and the two discs with thirty-eight excerpts are arranged in chronological order and give a truthful and appealing view of the width, the depth and the diversity of the concert programme of Het Apollohuis. The CDs feature Derek Bailey / Ernst Reijseger, Tom Johnson, David Gibson, Group 180, Rolf Juliu…
Raining
I met Rolf Julius only once in September of 2009. Knowing I had studied his works for over a decade, he graciously invited me to meet him for his solo exhibition and performance in Montreal that year. By strange coincidence, not only did we end up staying in the same hotel in this city foreign to both of us, but our rooms were directly next to each other! He greeted me with such humility Ð and like roommates, for 4 days we shared every meal and nearly every conversation. It was there tha…
Für einen kleinen See
This album is for the downward gaze. Taken from leftover piano sounds of simple sound sequences which Aki Takahashi had recorded for him. There were these irregular noises to be found which makes the connection from ear to eye. At the exhibition the piece was played back under a sheet of glass. Over which black pigment was sprinkled through a sieve. whereas a simple. Open loudspeaker was installed underneath the glass... Rolf Julius' works are always catalyzers for increasing attention to the th…
Music for a distance
Music for a Distance is the second release in the small music series. The title of the work in relation to the cover images (abstract photographs of Julius’ wife resembling landscapes merging into a distant horizon) suggests a work of uncommon poetic perception and inspiration. With the opening track "Music for a Distance," Julius achieves a sensitive balance of unpredictability and deliberate design, at times resembling a symphony of insects, complete with crickets and cicadas and rustling leav…
Music For The Ears
Western Vinyl is proud to release “Music for the Ears” the first in a series of Small Music releases by Rolf Julius. With a goal of creating solitary sound environments, the Small Music series will culminate into a boxed edition of seminal works by this master sound artist. “Music for the Ears” is comprised of two long tracks of gently weaving tones exploring the possibilities of spatial experience. The cover image depicts Julius’ sound installation in a bamboo forest in Kyoto, Japan where his m…