In the works of Simon Berz, there is a direct aesthetic examination of the relationship between nature and human perception.
Stone, water, wind, heat and time are the basic elements that appear repeatedly in the works and which he places in relation to human perception. Simon Berz’s transdisciplinary thought and work manifests itself gently and discreetly. In sound and in pictorial works, the power of nature is at the center. In his delicacy or brutality, Berz seeks aesthetic expressions. Proverbs or statistics (such as water consumption) inspire interventions or manipulations of natural phenomena and reflect “the human being” poetically, jokingly or soberly in the natural phenomenon.
Simon Berz says about himself: My work is energy. In nature, in dialogue with people. The development of tools, sound art installations, performances, languages and methods pervade me. It is based on listening and observation, on sound and material research, on the implementation of experimental formats and on their aesthetic mediation. In open spaces, in public spaces, in clubs, in galleries or in concert halls. My transdisciplinary works in experimental and improvised music, sound art and new forms of performance aim at innovation, interaction and participation.

Simon Berz

Drummer, sound artist, owner of the Badabum music school in Zug, was born on 26 January 1967 in Baden (CH)
Solo, or with other musicians, formations, artists and percussion students of his music school, he performs in Switzerland and abroad: Japan, China, Russia, United States, Cuba, Iceland, Turkey and Europe.
He works in experimental and improvised music, sound art and in new forms of performance aimed at innovation, interaction and participation. Starting from musical improvisations, he creates bridges for visual art, dance, cinema. His works are at home both in empty spaces and in public spaces, in clubs, in galleries or in concert halls. The development of instruments, sound installations and shows has occupied him since his youth. His artistic creation is based on listening and observation, on the search for sound and materials, on the conversion of experimental formats and on their aesthetic mediation. In addition to developing his own rhythmic and tonal language, using the electro-acoustically manipulated “Rocking Desk” battery, Simon Berz developed the “Lithophone”. These are sounds that electronically amplify and alienate the sounds produced by drops that come from infusion bags. To this end, he builds his instruments from everyday objects and artifacts from nature, which introduces new ways of sound.
Simon Berz has designed sound installations that focus on phenomena such as resonance and feedback in collaboration with instrument makers, technicians and scientists. How to interact with ice, water, stone, air, wind and fire? What is resonance – technically, but also psychologically and energetically? The sound artist looks for ways to make human energy fields experiential and interacting with the sound of a stone.
The performance in the city of Zug, in August 2017, with the Kofferorchestra and 30 refugees, shows how art demands creativity in the present. Accepting uncertainty through listening – Observing – The intervention involves artists, those present, interested parties and the public.
Simon Berz composes sound and music landscapes for cinema and theater. The IOCs Improvisation Orchestra, under his direction, brought three silent films to the Filmpodium in Zurich and for the first time to the Locarno Festival spin-off. Other performances followed in Beijing, Shanghai and Art Basel in Hong Kong.
It is the “network” of acoustic curiosity and their technical realization in interaction with the surrounding context, transformed and aesthetically transported – in nature, in society – what tickles Simon Berz. In addition to the sound material is the space in which art and sound manifest themselves to interest it – be it a fabric store in Zurich’s Langstrasse, the Icelandic volcanic landscape, or the Graubunden village of Peiden. The improvised music is for the unstable states of Simon Berz uncertainty, tension.