2006
Kind und Kagel - Mauricio Kagel und seine Kinderinstrumente
[Kids and Kaboodles: Mauricio Kagel and His Instruments for Children]
An exhibition of the Music Museum in the Basel Museum of History, in conjunction
with the Paul Sacher Foundation
13 January to 15 October 2006
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| 2006 Paul Sacher Centenary / Edgard Varèse Exhibition | ||||||||||
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From January to October 2006 the Paul Sacher Foundation,
working in conjunction with the Music Museum in the Basel Museum
of History, mounted an exhibition entitled Kind und Kagel - Mauricio
Kagel und seine Kinderinstrumente [Kids and Kaboodles: Mauricio
Kagel and His Instruments for Children]. The theme was the imaginative
sound-producing devices that the composer Mauricio Kagel developed
for children at the Cologne New Music Course in 1971. The exhibition
thereby presented a cross-section of Kagel's large collection of
instruments and props that have been held on deposit from the Paul
Sacher Foundation at the Basel Museum of History since 2004. Basel Museum of History, Music Museum, Im Lohnhof
9, Basel, Switzerland A brochure accompanying the exhibition, with contributions by Mauricio Kagel, Matthias Kassel, Martin Kirnbauer, and Martina Papiro, is available at the Museum Shop in the Music Museum or via the internet at www.hmb.ch/de/SHOP.html |
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In
1971 the Cologne New Music Course, headed by Kagel, was devoted
to the subject of children's instruments. Psychologists, teachers,
and not least of all children themselves joined forces to experiment
with the invention of imaginative sound-producing devises for pre-school
children. The resultant instruments, with such vivid names as «acoustic
toolkit», «flopstock», «sucker roll»,
«slap sandals» and «radio play hut», are
a fun alternative to the Orff instruments and recorders normally
available for this age group in order to sensitize children to music.
One emphasis of the exhibition fell on specially reconstructed sound-objects
usable by young and adult visitors alike. In addition to several
original objects displayed in glass showcases, the reconstructed
instruments invited visitors to explore the world of sound on their
own, exactly as Kagel intended. The presentation was augmented with
materials on the Cologne Course and the response of educators to
the instruments. A second part of the exhibition illustrated the
ties between Kagel's compositional work and his concept of «instrumental
theater»,in which the process of music-making itself is transformed
into a theatrical act, as in Der Schall (1968), Acustica (1968-70),
Staatstheater (1967-70), and Exotica (1972).