Olaf Val (born in Hanau in 1968) studied art in Kassel and completed his graduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. He has exhibited regularly since 1996—including internationally until 2014—and has worked as a freelance artist since 2003 and taught as a lecturer since 2004. From 2012 to 2022, he was an active board member of the Kassel Art Association, for which he curated solo and group exhibitions, among other activities. Since then, his artistic focus has shifted toward ecological issues, which he increasingly explores through the medium of sound art—with the aim of making a poetic appreciation of the environment tangible through sound.

THRESH()LD At a time when social and ecological systems are under increasing pressure, the multichannel sound object THRESH()LD develops an acoustic language for experiencing structural fragility. The installation explores those critical thresholds where materials, bodies, and social structures are on the verge of collapse—a state that can be described as a “global risk society.” Unlike many large-scale sound installations, THRESH()LD concentrates its energy within a compact, sculptural form. The work unfolds not through expansion but through condensation: its small size deliberately invites the viewer to approach it. Only those who approach it experience the subtle vibrations, reflections, and sonic processes. Thus, the sculpture functions less like a speaker system and more like an artistic-technical entity in which physical processes and subjective perception converge. THRESH()LD transforms contemplative art appreciation into a collective test of endurance. The dissonant sound frequencies challenge visitors’ physical and psychological tolerance thresholds and make their own thresholds immediately palpable. In this way, THRESH()LD positions itself as a critical intervention in a time of multiple crises: it makes audible and tangible what often remains abstract. The installation thus becomes an instrument that registers the shifts in our present and transforms them into an intense sensory experience in action. 12-channel audio object Plugdata sketch with a generative composition 1 Raspberry Pi 5 2 ESI Gigaport eX audio interfaces 6 ZHITING 200W TPA3116 amplifiers 8 VISATON SC 10N tweeters 4 LAVOCE bass drivers with attached mirrors