Sound Lab
Exploring the creative application of quantum technologies through sound.
From 21 February to 4 May 2025, Kraftwerk will be home to the LAS Sound Lab—a space for deep listening and sonic exploration. This environment invites visitors to discover newly commissioned sound works engaging with the creative possibilities of quantum technologies.
In recent years, research into the development of technologies based on quantum mechanics has progressed, particularly in the field of music production, inspiring sound artists and composers to experiment with tools and ideas emerging from this field.
For this very first edition of the Sound Lab, we have invited internationally acclaimed composers and sound artists whose distinctive aesthetics and musical experimentation are matched by their ability to engage with new technologies and scientific ideas. Their compositions offer a unique auditory experience that expands conventional ways of listening.
The Sound Lab created at Kraftwerk offers a dedicated space for the attentive listening of these commissioned works. Visitors can recline on loungers and experience the audio tracks through digital players and headphones in an immersive and contemplative atmosphere.
The LAS Sound Lab is an ongoing initiative, each iteration presenting a newly commissioned piece that explores the creative application of quantum technologies. After the composition by Kara-Lis Coverdale, we now present a sound installation by Marco Donnarumma.
The ticket for the WE FELT A STAR DYING installation includes a visit to the Sound Lab. Tickets are available from our ticket shop.
Marco Donnarumma: Lestes
Kraftwerk Berlin
25 March — 13 April, 2025
In the installation Lestes, Marco Donnarumma interprets the principle of superposition as in quantum physics through sound. The piece has been composed in such a way to be experienced through multiple listening channels - bone conduction, haptic and auditory. One can listen with traditional headphones and artificial organs created by the artist to be applied to the body. Each listening experience is unique and complementary, reflecting on the concept of the superposition of multiple states, while also questioning auditory norms.
“Quantum physics offers a world of simultaneous multiplicity. Sound is always in superposition: it caresses the skin, shakes internal organs, infiltrates the cochlea, it echoes inside the body. Lestes neutralizes the enforcement of ‘normal’ ways of listening. Here embodied listening and cochlear hearing are superposed, and sound becomes corporeal prehension.”
— Marco Donnarumma
Previous artists were
Kara-Lis Coverdale: Primary Action at a Distance
Kraftwerk Berlin
21 February — 24 March, 2025
In the sound piece, Primary Action at a Distance, composer and musician Kara-Lis Coverdale interprets connectivity and entanglement in quantum physics. The instrumentation of the track is made with Actias, a synthesiser that integrates the principles of quantum mechanics and quantum computing to open up new ways for artists to create music.
“Primary Action at a Distance describes a system of connectivity. Particles within a sphere are moving and state is defined relatively [...] In this space there is no beginning, no end, and no shadow. What is entanglement if not the intersection of You and I?”
— Kara-Lis Coverdale
Biographies
02
Artist
Marco Donnarumma
Artist
Kara-Lis Coverdale
Credits
Marco Donnarumma
Lestes
8 min, stereo/binaural audio, 2025
Field recording, bass guitar, custom software
LAS Project Team
Production and Installation Team
With thanks to:
Christl Baur (Ars Electronica), Monica Bello (Arts at CERN), Andrea Familari, Regina Greene (Front Porch Productions), Ferdi Tomassini and Harry Kumar (Moth Ltd.), Remco Schuurbiers (CTM), K-Star, Furore.
Previous artists were
Kara-Lis Coverdale
Primary Action at a Distance
7:45 min, Stereo-Audio, 2025
Instrumentation: Actias synthesis
