Synthesizer Studio Hamburg

In 2010, Katja Ruge and Frank Ilgener started the “Can Love Be Synth?” party series at the Hamburg club Golem. The party series then evolved into a photo series in which Ruge, a photographer, took pictures of classic synthesizers—such as the Minimoog, Korg MS-20, Roland CR-78, ARP Odyssey, OSCar, or Oberheim OB-8—in front of various wallpapers and backdrops as retro in appearance as the instruments themselves. After a number of international stops, the exhibition is now returning home to Hamburg and will be on view during the Reeperbahn Festival. At the heart of Ruge’s installation is the immediate link between fine art and music. The enormous dimensions of the photographs facilitate a direct interaction with both the venue itself and the exhibition’s visitors. The final size of the works is determined by the circumstances of the particular exhibition space, making each installation a unique work of art. Ruge assembles the individual DIN-A4-size components piece by piece, sticking them directly on the wall, and breathing new life into her rare synthesizer subjects.

If you share Ruge’s love of synthesizers or are interested in trying out a synthesizer or two for yourself, then here’s your once-in-a-lifetime chance to get inside a true synthesizer-nerd synthesizer studio. On Saturday, every hour on the hour between noon and 6 p.m., the Synthesizer Studio Hamburg will grant small groups of visitors entry into its very own synthesizer world, tucked away in the Feldstrasse bunker. Participants will be provided with precise explanations of individual synthesizers, technologies, and the way the instruments work, and will also have a chance to play synthesizers, even record and upload short sound samples. For all you synthesizer fanatics out there, here’s a taste of the studio’s equipment that’ll get your synth juices flowing: PPG Wave 2.2, Roland System 100 semi-modular synthesizer system from 1975, Roland Jupiter-8 (the biggest and best Japanese polyphonic analog synthesizer), Roland TR-909 (the ultimate techno drum machine), Moog Minimoog (the classic analog synthesizer), Yamaha CS30 (very complicated and experimental analog synthesizer with step sequencer and powerful sound).

The beginning of this trilogy will be the party of “Can Love Be Synth?” at Gruenspan on Wednesday with Katja Ruge and Frank Ilgener starting from 23.00.