34121 is an online platform offering free access to an extensive, ever-growing archive that has been systematically built up and expanded since 1995. The archive is freely available at 34121.net and is continuously streamed via p-node.org.
The archive brings together a broad spectrum of sonic practices and historical material. These include documents relating to the early avant-garde and conceptual art, instructions and visual scores, memorabilia from industrial culture, bruitism, noise and experimental music, plunderphonics, drone, microtonality, minimalism, sludge, Dada and Fluxus. The collection also encompasses musique concrète, performance art and actionism, real-time music and avant-jazz, ethnographic recordings, folk and traditional music, RIO, psychedelia, as well as various strands of rave and club culture that intersect with and emerge from Krautrock and Black Music.
34121 is designed as a continuously evolving index and dynamic archive. The collection brings together stories, practices, cultural scenes, recordings, technologies and forms of listening. Different historical, contextual and artistic strands are interrelated; they overlap and, in some cases, also contradict one another. The archive thus facilitates an exploration of diverse auditory forms and of the question of how historical transitions, technological developments and cultural contexts shape the emergence and transformation of sound practices.
In addition to the online platform, 34121 serves as a resource for reference, research, teaching and artistic practice. The collection comprises books, vinyl records, CDs, cassettes and audiovisual formats, as well as tools, equipment, software and teaching materials. These holdings are used, amongst other things, in seminars within the Direct Media [ Sound ] study focus at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. The project director of 34121 is Prof. Mario de Vega.
The online archive is freely accessible at 34121.net; the continuous stream can be accessed via p-node.org. The physical archive is located at the KKunsthochschule Kassel (Menzelstr. 13, Room 207 in the North Building) and can be visited by prior appointment. For further information and to arrange a visit, please contact mario_devega☞ Please insert an @ at this point ☜uni-kassel☞ Please insert a period at this pointde.