Since the end of the 70s, Hausswolf has worked as a composer using the recorder and sine waves as his main instruments. His concerts are often dynamic constructions using the acoustics in a specific space. His records has a conceptual and intellectual foundation where the composed sounds oscillates between sounding object and music. As a conceptual visual artist working with performance art, light- and sound installations and photography.
von Hausswolff's music has been performed throughout Europe and in North America and Asia in festivals such as Sonar (Barcelona), Electrograph (Athens), Sonic Acts(Amsterdam), Cut&Splice (London), Aural (Mexico City) and I.D.E.A.L (Göteborg). His compositions can be found released by labels such as Touch, Ash International, feld, Die Stadt, Firework Ed., Laton, SubRosa, Oral and RasterNoton. Hausswolff's music is published by Touch, London. Musically he has collaborated with Graham Lewis (Wire), Pan sonic, Russell Haswell, and others.
In 1997 he launched a series of works under the title "Operations of Spirit Communication". This work, inspired by Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) techniques, was combining and merging sound and vision using analogue and digital technologies such as oscilloscopes, radars and sonars. These ready-made machines were showing the possibilities of ghosts and other kinds of life forms living inside a certain space or inside the electricity grids. The cities of Paris, Linz, Bangkok, Shanghai, Banja Luka, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, New York City, Tokyo, Frankfurt am Main, Stockholm and Copenhagen has been under this magnifying ghost glass. More recently the exhibition “The Complete Operations of Spirit Communication” was shown at OK Centrum in Linz, Austria. Hausswolff has also collaborated with EVP researcher Michael Esposito in several sessions.
His interest in audio and radio technology also came in light at the 49th Biennale di Venezia in 2001. In a collaborative work with Tommi Grönlund, Petteri Nisunen, Leif Elggren and Anders Tomrén he had constructed a radio receiver that could play all radio transmissions from the Venice area at the same time. The entire Nordic Pavilion was filled with this mix of sounds producing a beautiful and at the same time profound religious audio graphic environment. Other radio tech works include the usage of scanners and EVP frequencies.
Hausswolf has also created a series of social platforms, places where people can meet and consume. His “Thinner- and Low Frequency Bar” was used at the Momentum biennial in Moss, Norway, Prato, Italy and London and his “Glue- (Tobacco-) and High Frequency Lounge” was used in Geneva and in Prato. These works show Hausswolff’s critical view on the society’s hypocritical treatment of drugs and addiction. The audience could sniff the highly toxic substances thinner and contact glue while smoking cigarettes and getting penetrated by the either low or high sine wave tones. The latest bar work was installed in Cairo 2010: Cobra Venom Bar.
In 1993 he and Leif Elggren developed the ever-lasting conceptual piece “The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland”. Here a new country was established in the world. Its territories was all border areas between every country, the No Man Land, mental territories such as the hypnagogue dream state and digital areas on the Internet. Paraphernalia such as a constitution including flags, coat of arms, and national hymn was produced and letters was sent to every government in the world asking for recognition. In 1995 an application for membership in the United Nations was sent in and in 2005 the New United Nations was proclaimed. Elgaland-Vargaland now has over 700 citizens and is frequently manifesting itself through the channels of conceptual art. Embassies has been established in Stockholm, Mexico City, Oujda, London, New York, San Francisco, Osaka, Barcelona, Helsinki and many other places. In 1995 the country annexed Schlaraffenland and t the 50th Biennale di Venezia in 2003 the state annexed Thomas More’s Utopia at the Utopia Station project. A new embassy was recently inaugurated at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Lake Constance in Switzerland and the Island of The Dead (Isola di San Michele) in Venice was annexed June 10, 2007.
