ARTS

Art is the ability to communicate a perspective, mood or feeling by expressing one’s own truth. It can reach people’s awareness and heart, depending on how transparent, sensitive and honest an artist is. Art can heal. And through its many forms it supports us to explore and, hopefully, master the Art of Living, because that’s what it’s all about.

[art of living]

We wish to integrate Art in our everyday living. Whether it is cooking, farming, building or similar, there is an artistic aspect in any of these processes. Furthermore, we want to dance, sing, play music. Art can help us understand and connect in a less rational way. It supports transformation and stands between the personal and the global. In our micro-cosmos, we are focusing in music production and the manufacture of musical instruments.

[music studio]

The idea of a studio on the mountain with a view to the sea has fascinated me (Andreas) since my student years, as much as most of the musicians, sound engineers and artists I’ve encountered on my journey. I needed to build a career in the music industry, leave it behind by giving my farewell to the system and social structures, experiment with natural building and walk the inner path, until I reached the point where I wish to give shape to a space of arts and creativity, combining my know-how in a number of fields.

Natural building techniques and materials used for constructing or modifying a sound studio can give great results. Beyond the given advantages in energy saving, keeping costs low and aesthetics, I believe that the “acoustic treatment” of a space can gain great benefit -the acoustic behaviour of the room can be shaped to an extended degree. Besides its geometry, which can be set freely, embodying bass-traps, reflectors and diffusers, the use of natural plasters and other materials (even waste like bottles or driftwood) can contribute in reaching the desired character.

I consider form as a self-organizing process, a balancing-act. It is somehow given. You can dance with form, you can be obsessed with form or ignore form. Our bodies, our buildings, our beloved items, our society: Form reflects everybody’s own balancing-act between structure and freedom, illusion and truth.

My vision for the recording room is a heptagonal shape (which actually can’t be constructed to perfection since 360:7=51,428571….) with a more or less conical roof. Since you most probably would want to concentrate on your art, distraction is limited by the lack of big windows, light comes in from the center above. The materials used to build the walls divide the perimeter into two sections, a more reflective one (rough stone, hard plasters) and a diffusing one (bottles and wooden logs exiting the wall in various depths, rough plasters, relief-techniques). This way, placing instruments into different positions, will change their sonic “colour”.

The control room will have no parallel walls as well, and will possibly feature a LEDE design. Since the excessive use of analog gear would demand more space and serious power (and would multiply the budget anyway), the idea is to keep it to a minimum: good microphones, good pre-amps and A/D converters, a couple of signal processors for recording purposes and a solid monitoring system. The ambition of the Hara-Goe studio is to nurture and capture the moment, so it will be rather a recording than a mixing studio. A room for additional tasks and video editing is also on the list. Sharing the principle of autonomy, the studio complex will be designed to be energy-sufficient, using passive cooling and without the need of extended heating (a rocket stove will be available for the extra cold winter days and nights).

[more art]

We may be focusing on music production and handcrafts, but we perceive Art as a whole, as a vital part of human Life. In times when it is not easy to unfold and to express oneself, when our collective inner compass is being seriously disturbed by collective stupidity, it is essential for artists to stand up and speak out. We hope that the Hara-Goe network will support this process.

So, whatever you do, if it is arising from deep within yourself, you are welcome to expose and share it. Whether you are a writer who needs to spend a quiet, creative time in nature, a group of actors rehearsing a new play, a painter, musician, sculptor, performer or any other kind of artist, feel free to get in touch and explore ways of doing things together. We believe that, if humans shift from the dominance of the mind to the playfulness of the heart, Earth will become a better place.