Augustin Maurs

A wolf tone is an acoustic disturbance, a “howling” sound made by bowed string instruments. Its name refers to the wolf fifth, an interval perceived as very dissonant that was shunned in Western music for a long time and has been eliminated in today’s standardized tuning. Using this sonic outsider as a point of departure, Augustin Maurs looks at what is excluded from harmonic music and harmonic societies in his musical performance. He draws upon the cultural history of the wolf as a symbol of fear, deviation, and resistance—from the myth of Lycaon via Disney villains to current political fearmongering.

Augustin Maurs (1975, Aurillac, France) is a musician, composer, and interdisciplinary artist who explores processes of music-making as such, often within their historical, social, and political contexts. His frequently collaborative projects combine music with performance and installations or take curatorial forms. Recently, his works have been shown, among others, at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; the 9th Busan Biennale; the 33rd Ljubljana Biennale; Bergen Assembly 2022; and the 1st Biennale Son, Valais. He lives in Berlin.