Rolf Julius
Ash, 1991
Terra cotta flower pots, speakers, ash, recorded sound
1414 Monterey, 1st floor (currently off view)

Julius recorded ordinary sounds, such as birds, radiators, and crickets, and patched them together into a collage of sound.  This "music" plays from speakers inside the flower pots. They are covered with an orange ash (from German coal-burning fireplaces) that seems to be dancing. It is as though the ash is making the sound "visible." It moves differently with every sound.

Rolf Julius
Red, 1996
Speakers, amplifier, CD, red pigment, wire
500 Sampsonia Way, lower level

Two speakers, suspended from the ten-foot ceiling by thin wire, hang just inches from the ground. They are coated with a brilliant, powdery, orange-red pigment that vibrates with the pulsing sound emanating from the speakers.

Rolf Julius
Music for a Garden, 1996
Speakers, amplifier, CD
500 Sampsonia Way, Garden

Julius created this work as a site-specific sound piece that enhances the visitor's experience of space in the Mattress Factory Garden. A mix of natural and electronic sounds is broadcasted from speakers, which are placed high on the museum's wall facing the garden. The speakers are angled in such a way that the visitor hears different sounds at different places. The sounds' pitches and volumes are modulated to sit at the edge of conscious awareness, subtly affecting one's experience of the site.


Rolf Julius
Born 1939, Wilhelmshaven, Germany; died 2011, Berlin, Germany