In recent years, Florian Hecker (b. 1975) has created a unique œuvre that has received international recognition in the form of numerous exhibitions, performances and concerts. In his work, Hecker consistently forms connections between the realms of visual art, music and performance, breaking established boundaries and opening up new forms of expression and possibilities of perception in space and time.

The exhibition at the MMK 3 presents fifteen extant works and two new ones executed between 2004 and 2016. In the main gallery of the MMK 3, the artist has arranged sixteen works tailored to this specific space. Following meticulously planned choreographies, they are enacted over the course of an exhibition day. Another room features the work Modulator (2012) as a counterpoint to the main exhibition.

The artist works with synthesized sounds generated in processes using digital and electro-acoustic signal processing. Compositional developments of the post-war modern era and knowledge of audiology and psychoacoustics serve as the points of departure for abstract and tangible works of art that intentionally resist verbal description.

Hecker assembles complex compositions as multichannel installations that accompany the visitor through the exhibition space of the MMK 3 and create subjective spatial experiences. Visitors can discover first-hand the extent to which individual perception depends on the interplay of acoustic resonance, the sound object, and their own senses. The experience of active listening triggers psychological and mental processes.

In his installations, performances and published recordings, Florian Hecker dedicates himself to exploring the boundaries and possibilities of the production and reception of sound. He challenges expectations and habits of perception in the context of the reception of contemporary art. With his constellations of artificial sound objects, Hecker dramatizes, abstracts, distorts and reformulates questions revolving around performance, conceptual art and sculpture.

Frankfurt’s significant role in techno culture and the electronic music scene makes it the ideal backdrop for the reception of Florian Hecker’s work. Already back in 2010, Hecker developed Event, Stream, Object for the exhibition Radical Conceptual at the MMK 1. That piece was subsequently purchased for the collection.

In connection with the exhibition, the MMK is cooperating with the Alte Oper, Frankfurt. Together they produced the new work FAVN (2016), which was performed in the Grosser Saal (Large Hall) of the Alte Oper in the days leading up to the exhibition.The exhibition was developed in association with Culturgest, Porto.

In conjunction with the show, an extensive publication has been produced in collaboration with Culturgest, Porto. It compiles texts on Florian Hecker's work by Éric Alliez, Ina Blom, François J. Bonnet, Gabriel Catren, Diedrich Diederichsen, Christopher Haworth, Robin Mackay, Sarat Maharaj, Reza Negarestani, Michael Newman and Fernando Zalamea. (Koenig Books, London, 25 EUR)