In his works, Bernhard Leitner explores sound as both a spatial and a bodily experience. The Ton-Anzug (Eng.: Sound-Suit) is a jumpsuit that has been covered by a coarse-meshed net to allow several loudspeakers to be attached to various parts of the body. The soundspace composition defines what kind of space is built up by the movement of the sounds between the loudspeakers around the body and inside the body. Sound-lines climb up around the body in spirals. Isolated sounds hitting the body and their penetration into it make a chordal impact. Percussive sounds rhythmically palpate various areas of the human body. People do not hear just with their ears: the whole body is an acoustic sensorium. Leitner’s work is an appeal for an expansion of habitual modes of perceiving and feeling sound and acoustic space.
