To a near-full house, on May 19th 1998, Achim Wollscheid turned Gallery INSEKT into a wild barrage of audio and visual mania. After a make-shift crew of three spent eight hours installing and configuring the space and the electronics, Wollscheid impressed the 200+ intrigued guests with a four-part program designed to confuse, enliven, and engulf the gallery. He began with a short read piece and then launched into the program-- with one of his many sound systems and computer-driven units bouncing sounds and tones from various locations in the space. Most impressive was when his unique "clapper" devices, about 20 of them, installed throughout the ceiling, pipes, and walls of the gallery, came to life slowly and then terrifyingly rattling the space like a school of robotic urban woodpeckers. Next more sound filled in the gaps, increasingly potent, until finally assistant Jason Lescalleet spent a good half-hour layering in sound with a reel to reel, turntables, and cd-unit. During all this, three large monitors turned to face the wall spilled eerie light in the otherwise dim gallery. When the monitors were turned around, they revealed documentation footage of Achim in process. The event was also modified by a camera-woman meandering through the atmospheric event relaying her feed to an in-house monitor. Wollscheid performed for almost two hours, after which the crowd made its way back into the streets and left the space hollow and dark. This was a one-night-only event featuring German sound and video artist Achim Wollscheid. Famous for his work in the past 20 years internationally in the avante garde scene, and in founding and promoting German-run noise/sound label Selektion, Wollscheid was here at Gallery INSEKT in Boston, while on his one month US tour also visiting NYC, LA, Chicago, and Atlanta. Wollscheid has worked with many other well known sound/installation artists such as Ralf Wehowsky, Berhard Gunter, and Japanese noise artist Merzbow. (return)