Sound artist Ruben Rübe (1990) creates self-made electronic instruments, peforms music and arranges live sound situations under the stage name Rübezahl. The artist focuses on the physics of sound, analog methods of creating electronic music and interaction with the viewer. In his practice, Ruben Rübe examines the technology behind the electronic musical instruments, usually hidden away in a box. The artist brings it to the center of the art piece through exposing the inner mechanisms in order to achieve a greater understanding and encourage the spectator to engage with the artwork. In TRAFO he will play on analog-electronic percussion instruments he has constructed during his residency in Szczecin.
What exactly defines an instrument. By its name, an instrument is normally exactly that, a tool to make music with, an object. Yet the design and logic behind it influences what the musician can do with it. That role of the instrument with a life of its own, a subject, is what Ruben Rübe is interested in. By setting up a sound producing system in a specific environment, he makes the environment itself part of the instrument. Every spectator entering the space becomes a part of the environment, and thus of the instrument.
Born in Germany, Ruben Rübe lives and works in Taiwan.