Max Neuhaus

Max Neuhaus (August 9, 1939 – February 3, 2009) was an American musician, sound artist, and noted interpreter of contemporary and experimental percussion music in the 1960s. He created dozens of permanent and short-term sound installations during his career, which spanned four decades.

Biography Neuhaus was born on August 9, 1939, in Beaumont, Texas, and spent childhood in New York before moving to Houston, Texas, where he graduated from Lamar High School (Houston). He studied percussion with Paul Price at the Manhattan School of Music, graduating with a master of music degree in 1962. After graduation, he attended Darmstadt Summer Courses as well as performed as a percussion soloist on concert tours throughout the United States with Pierre Boulez (1962-1963) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (1963-1964). In 1964 and 1965, he presented solo recitals in Carnegie Hall in New York City and fifteen major European cities. In 1966, he released a recording via Mass Art Inc. involving four live realizations of John Cage's Fontana Mix (1958), an indeterminate graphic score originally intended for a tape piece, with or without additional instruments. Entitled "Fontana Mix-Feed," Neuhaus's realization employed controlled feedback generated by using his Max-Feed device, placing contact microphones on percussive instruments and hooking the microphones up to loudspeakers positioned directly opposite the instruments.

His work as a percussionist culminated in an album of contemporary solo percussion work, Electronics & Percussion - Five Realizations By Max Neuhaus, which he recorded for Columbia Masterworks in 1968, and was produced by David Behrman.

In 1968, he pursued a career as a contemporary artist by developing sound installations, using electronic or electroacoustic sounds which would emanate from a source within a particular space or location. He coined the term "sound installation" to describe his sound works, which were neither music nor events.

Neuhaus's first work as an independent artist was a series of walks called Listen (1966-1976). He invited audiences to walk with him through the streets of New York City, with the word listen stamped on their hand. As the work progressed, Neuhaus stopped leading the walks, instead sending postcards/stickers to audience members, that they can leave in their city.

Neuhaus's first permanent installation was Times Square in New York City. It is situated beneath a grate on a traffic island in Manhattan pedestrians are "enveloped by a deeply resonant and mildly undulating drone, its tone suggestive of low-pitched chimes or church bells."

Other works included penny whistles heard underwater in swimming pools, electronic sounds within an arboretum, and the modified sounds of listeners whistling tunes over public radio. Neuhaus' permanent sound installations are found in these locations: The Menil Collection, Houston, US Synagogue Stommeln, Stommeln, Germany Promenade du Pin, Geneva, Switzerland Gewerbeschule Bern (gibb - Berufsfachschule), Bern, Switzerland Times Square, New York City, US The Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, New York, US CAPC, musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France AOK Hessen – Beratungscenter Kassel-City, Kassel, Germany Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria

Personal life Neuhaus was married to Silvia Cecere in 1996, with whom he adopted a daughter named Claudia. Neuhaus died of cancer in his home of Maratea, Italy on February 3, 2009. He came from a family with a long history in engineering, including his great-great-grandfather Friedrich Neuhaus.

Listed Works Based on the works listed on the Max Neuhaus Estate website. 1966-79, Listen series 1966, Bi-Product 1966-67, American Can 1966-73, Public Supply 1967-68, Drive In Music 1968, Fan Music 1968, Southwest Stairwell 1968, Telephone Access 1971-74, Water Whistle series 1973-77, Walkthrough 1976, Round 1976-78, Underwater Music series 1976, (untitled), Rooms, P.S.1, Institute for Art & Urban Resources 1977, Radio Net 1977, (untitled), Documenta VI 1977, Times Square 1977-1992 (reinstated 2002) 1978, (untitled), Museum of Modern Art, New York 1978, (untitled), Stichting De Appel, Amsterdam 1979, Five Russians 1979-89, (untitled), MCA Chicago 1980, (untitled) Como Park, St. Paul, Minnesota 1983, (untitled) Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence 1983, Time Piece, Archetype, Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art 1983, (untitled) ARC 2 1983, (untitled) Kunsthalle, Basel 1983-90, (untitled) Villa Celle, Pistoia, Italy 1985, (untitled) Promenades, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva 1986-88, (untitled) Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Locmine 1986-93, Works for One Person 1988, Sound Line 1988, River Grove 1988-90, Infinite Lines from Elusive Sources 1989, Two 'Identical' Rooms 1989-91, Bell for Sankt Cäcilien 1989-92, A Large Small Room 1989-93, Time Piece Bern 1990, Two Sides of the 'Same' Room 1990, (untitled) Lake Luzern 1990-93, Infinite Lines from Elusive Sources II 1990-present, Three 'Similar' Rooms 1992-present, Three to One 1993-present, (untitled) Musée d'Art Moderne, Bordeaux 1996-present, (untitled) Castello di Rivoli 1999-present, (untitled) Swisscom, Worblaufen-Bern 1999-present, Suspended Sound Line 1999, Intersection I, Venice Biennale 2001, (untitled) La Napoule Art Foundation, Mandelieu-La Napoule 2002-present, Times Square 2002-present, La Barma 2002-present, Promenade du Pin 2003-present, Time Piece Graz 2005-present, Time Piece Beacon 2007, Eybesfeld 2008-present, Sound Figure 2007-present, Time Piece Stommeln