My first involvement with the idea of a project for the old salt warehouse came in the second half of January, and an initial inspection of the building took place in the middle of February. At that time the main hall and the adjoining rooms were still in use as a store for textile fibres, and they were full. That made it impossible to test the acoustics properly. Instead we had to assess the acoustic properties of the building on the size of the rooms and our own experience. The next step was to obtain plans of the whole exhibition area.

With the various artists signed up for the exhibition and the individual installation zones allocated, the exhibition started to take on more concrete form, and the artists set about developing their initial concepts. For each project a feasibility study was produced and the material requirements listed.

Once the expected material requirements for the projects had been ascertained, it was time to turn to procurement. This involved price negotiations with manufacturers and also equipment rental operators, and also the question of sponsoring by the various companies. Finally we succeeded in organising all the material requirements on acceptable terms and with the help of a number of sponsors. The main difficulty related not only to the type of projects involved, most of them multi-channel installations, and the correspondingly large number of loudspeakers required - in the final resort a total of 56 loudspeakers were installed, each with a separate amplifier - but also the fact that the equipment was needed for a period of six weeks.

The initial concept produced by BILL FONTANA, - for an accelerometer (which measures movement in rock) linked to an acoustic wave cannon - could not be realised for mainly technical reasons and the extremely sceptical reaction of the experts regarding the quality of the translated signal. So a compromise had to be made. The second concept - for live sound to be transmitted from an old pipeline used to transport the brine - involved some intensive fieldwork. The transmission point had to be selected with the engineering requirements in mind, i.e. construction of a transmission line, and a protected location for the equipment. The hall, too, had to be adapted for the project. The material require-ments for the installation on the basis of the plans and basic concept comprised eight full-range loudspeakers (preferably identical models), the only Bose acoustic wave cannon available in Austria, one mixer, five amplifier channels, two CD players, one microphone for the brine pipeline, and a total cable length of approx. 400 metres.

For ROS BANDT's project, it was necessary to develop and construct a sensor interface system with seven individual sensors. A variety of adaptations also had to be made to the hall. The project finally required equipment totalling seven movement sensors plus switching systems for the sound loops, nine full-range loudspeakers of the same type with eight amplifier channels, and eight CD players. A total cable length of approx. 750 metres of various types of cable was also required.

ROBERTO PACI DALÒ's project involved a total material requirement of eight full-range loudspeakers with eight amplifier channels, one mixer and an eight-track tape deck with auto-repeat - plus a video recorder and monitor, and various light sources with a control unit for light effects. Total cabling requirement was approx. 350 metres.

The equipment for ANDRES BOSSHARD's project comprised six full-range loudspeakers with six amplifier channels, six smaller loudspeakers with six amplifier channels, three twin-channel amplifiers for the Plexiglas loudspeakers built by Bosshard, six time delays, two mixers, an eight-track tape deck with auto-repeat (preferably an Alesis Adat), and an outdoor microphone. Total cable length, with various types of cable, was approx. 600 metres.

The requirements of CONCHA JEREZ/JOSÉ IGES were less demanding, namely a stereo with a CD player, one video recorder and monitor, and seven flashing yellow warning lights. A suitable mains power supply unit had to be built for the lights.

ROBERT ADRIAN X needed a twin-channel full-range sound system, plus a CD player, a mixer and ca. 100 metres of cable.

HELMUT MARK required a video player and projector.

JOHN BLAKE required one CD player, loudspeakers and two slide projectors plus control unit.
And finally the material requirements for SODOMKA/ BREINDL/MATH: four loudspeakers with two twin-channel amplifiers, two CD players, a mixer, three slide projectors, three turntables, and 130 metres of cabling.

The WINKE WINKE project proposed by GERFRIED STOCKER/HORST HÖRTNER required particularly intensive preparation and management, involving not only the technical systems for a directional radio link, data transmission etc., but also questions of site, construction, approvals, transportation and so on.

In the preparatory talks the construction period was estimated at ten days. Work was therefore planned to begin in the salt warehouse on July 5.

The symposium held at the beginning of June was attended by most of the artists. That provided a further opportunity to check out the individual projects and discuss the final details with the artists on the spot.

In the second half of June, a test set-up was made in the hall with Ros Bandt and a test run was held. This permitted the location of the sensors and loudspeakers to be finalised and the basic balance to be set.

On 5 July the group arrived from Vienna together with most of the hardware, and the installations were set up project by project by ten people, who really functioned as a team.

Since Bill Fontana would not be able to attend the opening of the exhibition, a number of details were settled relating to the old timber brine pipe (with a choice of three available) and the location of the microphone in the Hall Valley.

For the various projects a total of 56 loudspeakers - as mentioned above - were installed, about three miles of various cable laid, 200 couplers of various types soldered, and the connections made for eight mixers, fifteen CD players, three video recorders, two eight-track Adats and forty amplifiers. Then WINKE WINKE was assembled on the summit of Patscherkofel, and the directional radio links set up for video, sound and data transmission. A microphone was also positioned with the necessary weather-proofing and connected up to Andres Bosshard's installation.

In addition a separate transmitter was installed to transmit live sounds from the Hall Valley around the clock together with the occasional advertising spot.

On the last night before the opening, a final rehearsal was held to fine-tune the technical and artistic balance between the individual installations. This was a challenge, as the task was to find just the right compromise between the acoustic independence of the individual projects on the one hand and their mutual interaction in support of overall harmony within the exhibition as a whole on the other.

This process began with Bill Fontana's installation at the beginning of the exhibition trail. First of all, final adjustments were made to the volume of the deep sounds of the sea pro-jected via the acoustic wave cannon. Then the underwater sounds coming from the ceiling loudspeakers were set accordingly, and the live sounds from the Hall Valley (from the wall-mounted loud-speakers) adjusted to complete the sound sculpture.

The next step was to adjust Ros Bandt's pre-set installation as a whole to match Bill Fontana's sonic composition.

After that it was a question of establishing harmonious transitions to Andrea Bosshard's work and from there to the installation by Concha Jerez/José Iges and to Roberto Paci Dalò's NAPOLI.

The installations created by Robert Adrian, Sodomka/ Breindl/Math, Helmut Mark and John Blake were all programed to harmonise with Ros Bandt's sound sculpture.

The result, if we are to believe the critics and public, was a convincing sonic composition that developed as you walked through the exhibition. The installations functioned without any major problems for the duration of the exhibition.

Perhaps one final, more curious statistic: the same team of workers took ten days to install the exhibition and a mere 71/2 hours to dismantle it!

Finally, it should be pointed out that an exhibition of this kind - like most art projects in electronic space - is only possible in a spirit of close, constructive, co-operative and harmonious collaboration among all concerned (the artists, the engineers and the organisers). So many thanks to everyone who helped to make ZEITGLEICH a success.