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SPK:

- Information Overload Unit
- Leichenschrei
- W. Sterneck: SPK
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System Planning Korporation:

INFORMATION OVERLOAD UNIT - DOKUMENT ONE

- Notes: Dokument One is a folded A4 formatted booklet that came with the first LP Information Overload Unit (1981) -

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System Planning Korporation:
Information Overload Unit


(1981; LP - Side Effects - SER 01 -England)

PROGRAM:
Side A (aka Face ULTRA):
 - Emanation Machine R. Gie 1916
 - Suture Obsession
 - Macht Schrecken
 - Berufsverbot
Side B (aka Face HYPER):
 - Ground Zero: Infinity Dose
 - Stammheim Torturkammer
 - Retard
 - Epilept: Convulse
 - Kaltbruchig Acideath


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SPK - Dokument I.

Thank you for your interest. This is the first of a series of Dokuments, with the intention of providing a visual interpretation of SPK to accompany standard aural output. This particular Dokument is expressly intended for use with the first LP by SPK, Information Overload Unit.

Details - Personnel;
Operator - synthesisers, rhythms, treatments, vocals
Wilkins - guitars, bass, tapes, vocals
Mr. Clean - technician
Tone Generator - synthesisers, treaments
Details - Content;
Face Ultra - Emanation Machine R.Gie 1916. Sutre Obsession. Macht Schrecken. Berufsverbot.
Face Hyper - Ground Zero:Infinity Dose. Stammheim Torturkammer. Retard. Epilept:Convulse. Kaltbruchig Acideath.

The project ideal is to express the content of various psycho-pathalogical conditions, especially schizophrenia, manic - depressive psychosis, mental retardation and paranoia. Information Overload supersedes normal, rational thought structures, forcing deviation into less restrictive mental procedures of so-called 'mental illness'. SPK is trying to be a voice for those individuals condemned to the slow decay of mental hospitals and chemical / electro / surgical therapy, without fetishising them into blatant entertainment product. 'SONIC FOR MANICS' aims to be a vehicle for sharing mental experiences through sound.

Owing to the instability of personalities associated with SPK output is likely to be irregular, as it has been up to now.

We would like to hear from anyone interested in what we are doing, especially those with interest in, or history of, psychotic disorder. We will reply personally to all correspondence. Our name and material will vary with each project, but once established, you will have no difficulty in maintaining contact.
Please write to either
Mike Wilkins,
15, King Edward's Road,
Hackney,
London E9 7SF
OR leave a message with Industrial Records, to whom, as ever, our thanks. Thanks also to PK, JK, BG, LDG, PTP, DB AND L. 

Love, 
SPK

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SPECIAL PROGRAMMING KORPS

"The mean I.Q. of 'fighters' was 91; for 'non-fighters' 78. But the mean I.Q. of the whole group of combat soldiers was 85, i. e. 15 points below the average. In other words, the less inteligent men are those into combat & the more intelligent among them, though they are still well below average." 

Almost 50% of psychoneurotic soldiers were in the army for over 18 mths, and 22% became NCO's of some sort. In fact, psychoneurotics were 50% more likely to be promoted to NCO than normal privates." 

'Fighters' were less ectomorphic and more meadmorphic than 'non-fighters', on average an inch taller and 8lbs heavier. The first sexual experience occured a year later for fighters, (15yrs 8mths against 14yrs 3mths). The fighter has faster refelxes and performs much better in pencil maze and mirror drawing tests. Very few first-born children, being by and large more anxious." 

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SURGICAL PENIS KLINIK

SAKA: A mental patient stole a car and was involved in a 80 MPH police chase. After driving several miles at breakneck speed he chrashed into a wall. Then he was pulled from the wreckage he had substantial head injuries. Now doctors say that by a million to one chance the metal of the windscreen surround gave him an involuntary lobotomy, and the patient is now socile enough to be discharged from the mental hospital. 

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SYSTEM PLANNING KORPORATION

Psychotropic drugs 

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SELECTIVE PORNOGRAPHY KONTROL

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MEAT PROCESSING

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STRESS REDUCTION TRAINING

At the Neuropsychiatric Lab. in San Diego the men are shown a series of gruesom films which become steadily more horrific. The trainee is forced to watch by having his head clamped so he cannot turn away and by the use of a device which keeps his eyelids open. One of the first films shows an African youth being circumcised with a blunt knife and without anaesthetic. When the film is over, the trainee is asked questions like "What was the motif on the knife handle?" or, "How many people were holding the youth down?". 

It appears this technique was particularly employed towards the end of the Yom Kippur war. So far, from using research to prevent atrocities occurring in the future, it appears that atrocities are being studied to learn more about killing, and to train people to be better at it. 

A technique used to exploit the need to comply is to spend hours asking and shouting questions to which the prisoner cannot possibly know the answer - details of atomic weaponry etc. Many ex-prisoners spoke of the "...tremendous feeling when he finally asks you something you can answer." 

The Russians were reported to have used succinyl chlorine on Israeli prisoners in Syria, 1973. The drug, administered by injection, causes convulsive muscular spasms, leaving the victim totally paralysed, in agonising pain, unable to breathe properly, but conscious. The victim feels himself dying, for lack of oxygen, although the effect is transitory, but there is then the threat of a repeat experience. 

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OPERATION BLACK EYE

Operation Black Eye is a good example psychological threat manipulation. Selected South Vietnam operators were organized into terror squads, trained to infiltrate villages. As a result, Viet Cong leaders started dying in their beds. On each of the bodies was a piece of paper printed with a grotesque human eye, which came to represent a threat. Next, 50,000 of the eyes were printed by the USA and started appearing pinned to people's homes. Now the eye took on a more potent form because it was an uncertain death. 

Following the appearance of the Baader-Meinhof group, the Germans developped long-term solitary confinement units known as Tote Trakt (Silent Floor) in which all walls and furniture were painted harsh white, the lights were permanently on, and the windows were dark and extremely difficult to see through. This system led to Holger Meinz starving himself to death and to Meinhof's suicide by hanging in May 1976. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv::

LEICHENSCHREI - DOKUMENT 2


- Notes: Dokument Two is a folded booklet between A4-A5 size, that came with the second LP Leichenschrei (1982) -

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Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv:
Leichenschrei

(1982; LP -Side Effekts, SER 02, England)

Side A (aka Seite ))LYSSO(():
 - Genetic Transmission
 - Post-Mortem
 - Desolation
 - Napalm (Terminal Patient)
 - Cry from the Sanatorium
 - Baby Blue Eyes
 - Israel
 - Internal Bleeding
Side B (aka Seite ))KLONO(():
 - Chamber Music
 - Despair
 - The Agony of the Plasma
 - Day of Pigs
 - Wars of Islam
 - Maladia Europa (the European Sickness)

PERSONNEL:
 Oblivion: synthesisers, elektronik rhythms, tapes, synkussion, vokals
 Ne/H/il: synthesisers, elektronik rhythms, tapes, treatments, vokals
 Pinker: drums, synkussion, metall perkussion, backing vocals

-------------------

SPK - Dokument II.

The second in the series to update on progress and projekts.

We have begun working on the second album : Leichenschrei, due for release from the UK in April, 82. This will be the final produkt, as we originally intended. However, there will be a movement into video and film, beginning with L'Etat Haemophiliaque (Internal Bleeding) which is in progress and will have its first screening in Australia later this year. SPK will then specialise in soundtrack, a medium we have always had a strong sympathy with.

In response to the considerable interest shown in our projekt so far, we have decided to devote a Dokument to an explanation of some of the areas of research into sound and visuals which we have used. Subliminal content in lyriks and voice tapes occupies much of our attention. However it requires feedback from others in order to evaluate their effectiveness. That is why we always encourage correspondence, even though various members of the group prefer to remain anonymous (as far as possible). In addition, we try to provide some interesting information on experiments into mental phenomena, and to dispel some of the boring myths about infra/ultra-sonics.

We have often been asked the reason for apparently limiting ourselves to the mental sphere. The answer is that we feel the need to intensify interest in the SPECIFIC locus of consent to be repressed in the individual. We therefore claim to be "politikal", but not in the accepted sense of the term.

In 1982 SPK will abandon its earlier practice of limited publik appearances, with scheduled live assaults in Japan, Europe and Amerika. 

Watch out for a show in a town near you.

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SOUNDS OF EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE

There exist dynamic mechanisms whereby the emotionally disturbed person produces a specific acoustic impact on the listener. Acoustic patterns are subject not only to the physiological laws governing respiration and phonation, but also to social rules regarding acoustic expression of emotion. Experiments by Peter Ostwald in 1960 resulted in objectification of some patterns into 4 categories: 
1. Hysterical/excited subjects produced a 'sharp' voice with acoustic doubling in the mid-range, identical to children's voices. 
2. Depresse`Vobsessional people show persistent fixing of one fundamental tone, and a midrange pattern smeared out in a 'flat' way across the spectrum. 
3. Organically ill/emotionally drained subjects have characteristically 'hollow' voices with just a single concentration of sound energy at the low end of the spectrum. There is steady dropping off of energy in the mid-range and wasting away in the upper region, responsible for unintelligibility. 
4. A 'robust' voice was characteristic of those who felt the need to be heard, to impress and influence others. This was most 
often displayed by epileptic personalities, and by hypomaniacs and some neurotic subjects. 

But what effects do such impact patterns have on the auditory system of the listener? The intake structure of the human ear  favors the mid-range of the acoustic spectrum. Sounds there produce a much stronger impact than equally intense insonation at the upper and lower extremes. Hence the reason that the human scream is concentrated over that area. Acoustic records of psychiatric patients reveals certain peaks along the frequency-intensity spectrum more recurrent and prominent than others. When subjected to stress situations, ordinary subjects exhibit a gain in acoustic intensity at 125Hz and 500Hz. It is more complicated with psychiatric patients, but the measure of total loudness is significant also at 500Hz. In addition these observations were taken before and after various standard types of treatment, the results showing that there was a significant increase in loudness after electroconvulsive therapy and a decrease after drug treatment. 

It is of interest that the 500HZ band is the most significant, since it is here that the neo-natal infant emits the first cry. The experiments also showed there was little difference between patterns of the two sexes, indicating that sounds of acutely disturbed patients stem from some primitive, pregenital response pattern. 

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BEHAVIOR CHANGES PRODUCED BY ACOUSTIC STIMULI.

Systematic manipulation of the acoustic environment can and has been used as a primary technique for influencing human behavior. High intensity noise was used in the cells of the prison at Sta'T~nheim in West Germany where the Baader-Meinhof were imprisoned. The constant inability to hear the sounds of their own bodies and the unceasing stress caused must have been a major factor in their suicides. 

The intensity level is the most important feature. Noise above 130 dB leads to loss of space orientation, above 140 and the subject feels nauseous and may vomit. At 145 dB the stretch receptors of muscles, joints and tendons are affected and the movement of limbs becomes disorganized. And at 150 dB the skin receptors are activated producing heat pain. 

But in addition to stress, there is the annoyance factor. To speak intelligibly in noise requires 18 dB more volume than the noise signal, and the listener must also work harder. Feedback mechanisms are interfered with when one can't hear one's own sounds, leading to speech retardation, blocking, slurring and repetition. In addition the nomlal speech rhythm and intonation patterns are lost and subjects produce strange noises. They also laugh aggressively and erotically, and most significantly reveal information they would otherwise have never divulged. This pattern is most notable in acute paranoid schizophrenics where aggressive behavior and panic reactions involving hyperparanoia can be induced. 

Finally one can consciously or unconsciously attribute meaning to noise because it frustrates the habitual listener demand for precise environmental clues. Noise had the capacity to suggest various imaginary and autistic interpretations which may disturb. 

Human body sounds are also the subject of investigation as to their effects on listeners. Respiratory sounds have been found to have a hypnotic effect when amplified and resumed to the ears of the breather and others. Panting produces anxiety and wheezing seems to stimulate paternal/maternal "instincts."    

Salk found that behavior and development of babies can be sped up by exposure to taped heart beats. Those in the experimental group exhibited increase in weight, greater depth and regularity of respiration, less restlessness and crying, and fewer gastro-intestinal problems. An intimate relationship between the sound of urination and human auditory responsivity has often been noted (first by Van der Heide 1941), but the study was never completed. It is possible that the foetal development of the urogenital tract and the ear are related in some way.

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SUBLIMINALS AND UNCONSCIOUS

The unconscious provides frames through which consciously perceived data is interpreted and evaluated. The task of art, music, literature, psychoanalysis and advertising, is to penetrate and manipulate these structures. The effectiveness of any of these fields has very little to do with conscious perception. 

The most blatant use of subliminals is of course found in advertising, but in art is goes a lot further back. The most usual technique is EMBEDDING of words or pictures in the ground of the advertisement, behind the figure (or obvious focal point). This technique was a favorite with 18th Century artists, and must later Dali, Escher etc. A subliminal imprint of the word SEX can even be found in a Rembrandt. This is the most common of a vocabulary of eight words (including CUNT, FUCK and DEATH) which are very frequently embedded in advertising copy. The word is either painted on a photoengraving plate with asphaltum and briefly immersed in acid, or lightly airbrushed into a photograph in hair, folds of clothing, etc., or written onto a transparent overlay, photographed alone at about 1/2,000 of a second, then double exposed over the art layout at around 1/100 of a second. The zenith of obscenity was reached in the daily newspaper photograph of Vietnam atrocities, which often had an extraordinary mosaic of SEX's scrawled subliminally over them (see photo.) To sell war better? To make it more palatable? More erotic? The other technique used very often is incorporating ANAMORPHIC images into the copy. This is high distortion, often grotesque, and only at times consciously distinguishable. One of the earliest examples in art is Holbein's anamorphic skull in the Ambassadors (1533). Frequently this method of triggering unconscious response in advertising involves strange and distorted shadows in the ground. 

Television and film have incorporated subliminals for a long time. They are presumed banned from television but are often so subtle that they escape censorship. A fairly recent example in film was the apparently innocuous Exorcise where the whole range of techniques was used, including death-mask embeds of two frames at 1/48 of a second. This was consciously visible to about 1/3 of the audience, and another 1/3 was vaguely aware of it upon questioning. But the group on whom the film showed most emotional impact were those who had not noticed it at all, i.e. those who had consciously repressed the images. Soundtracks are also especially important in management and control of movie audiences. Hitchcock ranked sound as more vital to the success of his suspense movies than his visual illusions. 

It is often claimed that subliminal material does not really affect the subject. In fact it is true that the subtlety is difficult to specify in simple cause-effect terminology. But it can be shown that there is something going on in the unconscious by watching EEG and galvanic skin response meters, and retinascopes which measure the compulsive expansion/contraction of the retina, plus Mackworth camera which tracks the ultra-fast movements of the fovea across any scene. In addition the Poetzle Effect whereby people exposed to subliminal ads reveal their effectiveness much later by unconsciously choosing that brand out of a wide range, is statistically verified. Experiments with fovea cameras have shown that the fovea moves in a saccade from point to point in response to symbolizing content. Symbols involving death will pull the eye irresistibly towards a specific locus, and even sex has to run second in Westem culture in almost 100% of cases. Design elements - lines of movement or attention - also are vital in directing the fovea. Meaning is derived from the sequence of microsecond stops compulsively made by the fovea in its saccades. Change the sequence and the meaning changes, even though the frame content remains the same. 

-------------------

Tests carried out by psychologists in the auditory field show much the same unconcious processes operating as for visuals. It is fairly easy to see that sublimal stimuli presented at intensity just below that necessary to hear them properly will trigger off psychic responses. But a stimulus influences not only output behavious, but also input, because the meaing of the word contributes to its audibility. Sex words presented 5db below threshold to anorexics, for exapmple, let to signigicantly more food responses that neutral or conscious stimuli.

It is important however to adopt an attitude to sublimal techniquse, as to most technology, that it is not, in itself, a grat evil. The problem is that we are being manipulated without our knowledge for purely commercial or reputational gain by corporations or artists interested in pantentialting specific responses. In both cases the subject has no choice in the matter. 

However, it is possible to use the idea in another way. The educational potential of sublimals is enourmous, since it is experimentally shown that thresholds for learning are much lower at the unconscious than the conscious level, where distraction, anxiety, tension and fear control the thresholds. In film and sound production it is possible to include sublimals which can potentiate free associations in the unconscious, rather than dictating any specific response to it and denying it any choice or participation in the process.

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INFRA / ULTRA SOUND.

Sound sources at frequencies outside the nomlal limits of human auditory response are the subject of much popular mythology. First research in depth by the US Military in the 50s, they are now used primarily in warfare and medical applications. SPK has been using certain kinds of low and high frequency generators: for some time in live assaults. Here we present some facts about such signals. 

Infrasound, or frequencies below 20 Hz, is commonly the byproduct of transport, air heating/cooling systems, compressors, transfommers, and vibration/acceleration phenomena. But in order to experimentally generate these frequencies at adequate levels for hearing (or rather for experiencing), requires immense power and large and specialized equipment (e.g. piston-driven speakers). The loudness factor necessary is in excess even of the loudest aero-turbine at some frequencies. However, once generated, annoyance thresholds increase very fast as we take the oscillator or noise generator down through the range. Once the tactile sensations become evident there is a dramatic leap in the response curve (i.e. below 10 Hz). At 20 Hz it requires 85.2 dB for the signal to be perceived, rising to 92.1 dB at 15 Hz, 99.5 at 10 Hz, 111.1 at 5 Hz, and a massive 121.4 dB at 2 Hz. 

The following subjective responses were experimentally gained by subjecting test subjects to whole-body fields. 

2 - 5 Hz (137 dB) - difficulty in speaking/voice modulation, chest wall vibration, swaying sensations, lethargy, drowsiness, headaches and fatigue. 

5 - 15 Hz - middle ear pain, difficulty speaking/voice modulation, severe chest wall vibration, severe abdomen vibration and nausea, falling sensation, lack of concentration/drowsiness, severe fatigue/headache. 

15 - 20 Hz - severe middle-ear pain, respiratory difficulty, severe chest wall vibration, gagging sensations, spasm of uncontrollable coughing, nasal cavity vibration, persistent eye watering, fear symptoms (including excessive perspiration/shivering), severe fatigue/headaches. In two cases (both female) cuntaeous flushing. 

Yet perhaps most interesting of all is that in no case did any of the subjects request that the experiment be discontinued, though several were unwilling to submit to a repetition. In fact if the same volume of sound is fed to experimental subjects at frequencies above theinfrasonic region (e.g. from 50 -100 Hz) the above symptoms are seen to be far more acute, and at lower volumes.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is necessary to have more specialized equipment for generating signals in the megahertz range. But the effects are severe and applied in sophisticated weapons technology. 

Ultrasound works by raising the temperature of living tissue, the main parameter being DURATION of exposure rather than variation in frequency or intensity of the source. The threshold temperature is inversely related to the logarithm of duration, for irreversible damage to the mammalian central nervous system it is sufficient to generate a signal of 2.7 MHz pulsing 10 - 200 microseconds sustainer for anywhere between 0 1 - 180 microseconds, giving a temperature rise of 42c. 

Specific effects from experiments at similar levels 

Neurological/Behavioral - altered EEG 
altered emotional behaviour 
delayed neuromotor reflex development in foetus 

Genetic - decreased incorporation of nucleic acid precursors 
chromosomal aberrations 
DNA strand degradation. 

Foetal Development - mutations 
postpartum mortality 
reduced weight 
altered emotional behaviour 

Hematological / Vascular - decreased clotting time 
haemorrhage 
blood stasis 

Immunal System - depressed response in general 
spenomegaly.

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ART BRUT

Art Brut is the name given to the collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and writings by patients in mental asylums of France, or by people found living  in total obscurity producing works producing works ofart obsessionally. It is housed in a small museum in Laussane, Switzerland and periodically is shown at obscure venues around Europe. The quality of the work is screened (for better or worse) with a view to retaining only that which seems entirely original. The result is a living array of undecipherable calligraphiks, primitivist figures, unreadable muzik, and obsessive designs as well as a vast array of curious paintings of style found nowhere in "art history". 

Some of the more interesting people are Adolf Wolfi, who aged 25 molested young girls, was given 2 years jail, and later, a similar offense led him to be interned at Waldau. He was conceptionally violent and spent 20 years in solitary confinement. In 1899 he began to write, design, and compose musik, working feverlishly day and night. His muzikal works are not able to be interpretated in the ordinary way, appearing to be for vusual effect and incorporating strange collages. Heinrich Anton Muller began in 1917 to design and cover the walls of his room iwh symbolic images. He also made funcionless machines, this work occupying him for 12 years. Then in 1925 he suddenly began again and produced a completely different set of designs. 

Robert Gie. was hospitalised for 14 years as alcoholic, until 1922, where he suffered from delusions of paranoid variety. Most of his work was done around 1916, and its complex linkages between man and machine figuring control of mental process, is far in advance of such ideas in mainstream art.

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SOLOMON'S KEY

xywoleh vay barec het vay yomar ha elohe 
elohim ascher tywohe hythale chuabotay lep 
ha nawabra hanveys ha hakla elohim haro 
he otymeo dy addhayon hazze hamalech hago 

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SPK - Information Overload Site

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Wolfgang Sterneck:

S.P.K. UND DIE PSYCHISCHE VERÄNDERUNG


Zu den ersten Bands, deren Aufnahmen auf Industrial Records veröffentlicht wurden, gehörte S.P.K. Die drei Buchstaben wurden in den ersten Jahren mit fast jeder neuen Veröffentlichung einer anderen Bedeutung zugeführt, so unter anderem zu Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation und Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv. Bei den späteren Veröffentlichungen wurde dieses Verfahren aufgegeben und nur noch SPK als Bandname beibehalten. Das Projekt wurde 1979 in Sydney von Ne/H/iL, einem Patienten einer psychiatrischen Anstalt, und Graeme Revell, einem in der Einrichtung arbeitenden Betreuer, gegründet. Entsprechend war auch der Bereich psychischer Veränderungen in den ersten Jahren das zentrale Thema der Veröffentlichungen. ”Der Grundgedanke des Projektes ist es, die Bedeutung verschiedener psychopathologischer Zustände, insbesondere Schizophrenie, manisch-depressive Psychose, mentale Retardationen und Paranoia aufzuzeigen. S.P.K. versucht eine Stimme derer zu sein, die zu einem langsamen Verfall in den psychiatrischen Krankenhäusern verdammt sind, ohne sie zu einem Unterhaltungsprodukt zu machen. Unsere Veröffentlichungen sollen mentale Erfahrungen über den Vermittler Sound nachvollziehbar machen.”

Die musikalischen Ausdrucksformen basierten entsprechend auf einer Verbindung von monotonen, elektronischen Rhythmen und Geräuschcollagen in die verzerrte Stimmen und Schreie eingespielt wurden. Nach mehreren Besetzungswechseln kam es in den achtziger Jahren zu einer Abkehr von der ursprünglichen inhaltlichen Ausrichtung und zu einem musikalischen Stilwechsel. Nachdem sich S.P.K. zeitweise dance-orientierten Stilelementen zuwandte, kam es zu einer Öffnung gegenüber musikalischen Einflüsse aus verschiedenen Kulturen und Epochen, die zu mystisch anmutenden Stücken verbunden wurden.

Die Bezeichnung Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv nahm Bezug auf die gleichnamige Organisation in der BRD, deren Mitglieder von der Erkenntnis ausgingen, dass psychische und psychosomatische Veränderungen bzw. Krankheiten in den zerstörenden Mechanismen des kapitalistischen Systems wurzeln. Das Ziel lautete dementsprechend nicht, wie zumeist in den bestehenden psychiatrischen Einrichtungen, die PatientInnen soweit zu heilen, dass sie wieder in den kapitalistischen Verwertungsprozess integriert werden können, sondern vielmehr die systembedingten Ursachen der Krankheiten aufzuzeigen und anzugreifen. ”Der Stein, den jemand in die Kommandozentralen des Kapitals wirft, und der Nierenstein, an dem ein anderer leidet, sind austauschbar. Schützen wir uns vor Nierensteinen!”

Die Band S.P.K. griff diese Theorien zwar teilweise auf, ging in ihren Aktionen aber nie über einen theoretischen und musikalischen Rahmen hinaus. Die Freitode zweier Bandmitglieder, darunter des Gründungsmitglieds Ne/H/iL, zeigten, dass auch innerhalb der Band keineswegs ein Klima gegeben war, welches die Probleme psychischer Veränderungen auffing. Als Graeme Revell in einem Interview auf die Ursachen angesprochen wurde, antwortete er in einer Weise, die in ihrer äußerst zynischen Grundhaltung charakteristisch für viele Projekte der Industrial Culture war und wohl das skurrile Image der Band unterstreichen sollte: ”Ich kenne die Gründe nicht. Sie haben es mir nicht verraten. Und sie haben mir auch nichts in ihrem Testament vermacht, was ich wirklich ärgerlich finde.”

S.P.K.-Gründer Graeme Revell veröffentlichte 1986 eine Konzeptplatte mit Vertonungen von Kompositionen von Adolf Wölfli und knüpfte damit wieder an seine anfängliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Bereich psychischer Veränderungen an, wenn auch nun von einem kunsthistorisch orientierten Ansatz ausgehend. Bis zu seinem Tod (1930) verbrachte Wölfli über die Hälfte seines Lebens in der ”Irrenanstalt” in Waldau bei Bern in der Schweiz. Der äußeren Freiheit beraubt, entwickelte er im Innern eine auf ihn selbst bezogene Welt voller eigentümlicher Menschen, Pflanzen und Maschinen mit spezifischen Gesetzmäßigkeiten. Diese dokumentierte er in einem äußerst umfangreichen Werk von Zeichnungen, Collagen, Kompositionen und Texten. ”Allebrah, du bist Musik. Allebrah, du bist Gott... Allebrah, nun ist Sommer. Allebrah, du bist krank. Ich heiße Hinterpommer. Drum sende ich den Schwank. Voll Wunden, Schmerz und Hiebe. Auf hartem Krankenbett ist Gott ja voller Triebe. Drum wird er heut nicht fett.”

In vielen Zeichnungen von Wölfli lassen sich eingebunden in Ornamenten und Figuren Kompositionen in Form traditioneller sowie vielfach auch abgewandelter Musiknoten erkennen. In anderen Zeichnungen bediente sich Wölfli verschiedener Wortsilben und Symbole, die von ihm kreiert wurden, um einzelne Kompositionen darzustellen. In schriftlicher Form gab er dazu Anweisungen wie die Musikstücke im einzelnen aufzuführen seien. Ihm selbst standen als Instrumente nur einige selbstgebaute Papiertrompeten zur Verfügung, auf denen er teilweise mehrere Stunden ununterbrochen in seiner Zelle spielte.

Für das musikalische Werk Wölflis wurde der Begriff der Musique Brut geprägt. Er ist abgeleitet von der Theorie der Art Brut, die der französische Maler Jean Dubuffet um 1945 entwickelte. Dubuffet lehnte die gesellschaftlich anerkannten Kunstgattungen grundsätzlich ab und sah im Gegensatz zu diesen in den Gestaltungen von Kindern und psychisch Veränderten die eigentliche Kunst, da diese aus dem Innern heraus spontan, unreflektiert und weitgehend unmanipuliert entsteht. Dubuffet selbst veröffentlichte mehrere Aufnahmen improvisierter Musikstücke, die in den frühen sechziger Jahren in Zusammenarbeit mit dem dänischen Maler Asgar Jorn entstanden. Ohne besondere musikalische Fähigkeiten und ohne Kenntnisse über die Entwicklungen der musikalischen Avantgarde benutzten die beiden Künstler unterschiedlichste Instrumente, denen sie ”neue, bisher ungeahnte Töne entlocken” wollten. Die Ergebnisse zeichnete Dubuffet mit einem vergleichsweise einfachen Tonbandgerät auf. ”Man nennt eine Aufnahme gut, wenn die Töne klar und deutlich sind. Doch in der Alltagswelt unseres Ohres gibt es nicht nur diese Töne, sondern auch - und sogar in einem weit größerem Maße - sehr unreine, undeutliche und verwaschene Töne, die von weit herkommen und mehr oder weniger schlecht zu verstehen sind. Wenn man sich dafür entscheidet, sie zu ignorieren, dann führt das zu einer Schein-Kunst, die nur eine bestimmte Kategorie von Tönen zuläßt. Mein Ziel dagegen war eine Musik, die sich nicht auf eine Auswahl gründet, sondern die alle Töne einbezieht - und vor allem die Töne, die man fast unbewusst hört. (...)”

Gerade an Adolf Wölfli wird deutlich wie sehr die Charakterisierung einer Person als Genie oder Wahnsinniger von der jeweiligen Gesellschaft und dem Herrschaftssytem abhängig ist. Während Wölfli selbst über die Hälfte seines Lebens von der Gesellschaft verstoßen in der Psychiatrie verbrachte, wurde er zweiundvierzig Jahre nach seinem Tod auf der Documenta, der weltweit bedeutendsten Ausstellung moderner Kunst, als ein Vorläufer der avantgardistischen Kunstströmungen des 20. Jahrhunderts gewürdigt und seine Zelle originalgetreu nachgebaut. Zudem widmeten mehrere KomponistInnen einzelne Stücke Wölfli oder vertonten wie Revell dessen musikalische Aufzeichnungen. Deutlich wird an der Person Wölflis aber auch, dass es neben den öffentlich anerkannten Kunst- und Musikstilen eine Vielzahl von Entwicklungen gibt, die auf ihre Weise mindestens ebenso bedeutend sind, aber nie einen größeren Bekanntheitsgrad erlangen, weil sie keine Möglichkeit haben ein interessiertes Publikum zu erreichen oder sich der Kulturindustrie mit ihren Verwertungsmechanismen entziehen.

Auszug aus:
Wolfgang Sterneck: Der Kampf um die Träume - Musik und Gesellschaft. (1998).



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