Sound Environments for Panoramic Paintings
Spatial Sound Installations (2007 / 2009 / 2019)
Sound Environments for Panoramic Paintings, Illustration, Jerusalem Panorama Altoetting
Over the past years, Moritz Fehr has created several spatial sound installations in
which composition, architecture, and listening merge into immersive environments. Among
them is a spatial sound composition for the large-scale historic Jerusalem Panorama in
Altötting, Germany, where he developed an acoustic work tailored specifically to the circular
architecture of the site. Across these works, Fehr approaches the Panorama not as a silent image but as a latent
spatial structure – one that can be activated, expanded, and transformed through sound.
Jerusalem Panorama (since 2009)
The monumental cyclorama Jerusalem Panorama was painted in 1903 by Gebhard Fugel. It is Germany’s sole historic large-scale Panorama-painting (approximately 95 x 12 meters), covering the walls of a space of about 30 meters in diameter. Here, the spatial sound installation installation has been specially developed for the historic panoramic space and is set up permanently. It was opened to the public in August of 2009.
The combination of a panorama painting with sound seems to be as obvious as much as audible elements are capable of supporting the illusionist effect established by the panoramic contraption. However, in the past, sound and noise have mostly been employed, or experimented within Panorama-related forms such as the Diorama and the Moving Panorama. The idea of this work is to use sound as an independent element and by this exceed the limits of its function as a mere supplementary background noise. It is not intended to illustrate the given visual impression of the Panorama, but to broaden the perception of the illusionistic medium through spatial sound and therefore enhance the spatial experience.
The composition is playing in a cycle of 30 minutes through a array of 16 speakers, especially designed for the space. The different layers of shifting and moving sounds create an artificial soundscape that accentuates the distinct layers of the panoramic space and highlights different sections of the painting.
The project was made possible through generous funding by: Streicher & Streicher Foundation, Bavarian Ministry for Science, Research and Art, Kunstfonds Bayern, City of Altötting, Sparkasse Altötting-Mühldorf, Bezirk Oberbayern Kulturfonds Landkreis Altötting.
Visitors inside the Jerusalem Panorama Altoetting, 2009
Shengjing Panorama at the Velaslavasay Panorama (2019-2025)
For the Shengjing Panorama, opened in 2019 at the Velaslavasay Panorama, Fehr further developed this investigation by composing a site-specific work and conceiving a specialized 16-channel loudspeaker configuration for its playback within the rotunda. Designed for the circular architecture, the system distributes sound dynamically along the 360-degree painting. Concealed within the rotunda and integrated into the structural framework, the speakers transform the panorama into a resonant body, enabling the composition to unfold three-dimensionally in space.
Shengjing Panorama, Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles (2019-2025)
Effulgence of the North at the Velaslavasay Panorama (2007-2017)
Moritz Fehr created an eight-channel spatial sound installation for Effulgence of the North, a panoramic presentation painted by Sara Velas. It was exhibited together with the 360-degree painting at the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles from 2007-2017.
Further information on the The Velaslavasay Panorama
