Susan Philipsz's Part File Score Deconstructs Hanns Eisler's FBI File Through Sound and Print
In 2014, Susan Philipsz created a sound installation titled Part File Score, which analyzes three works by Hanns Eisler, a Jewish Austrian composer who was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. After escaping Nazi Europe in 1938, Eisler faced deportation in 1948 due to alleged communist affiliations. His extensive 686-page FBI file, accessible online, serves as a foundation for Philipsz's project. She extracts violin notes from Eisler's Opus III (1924), Fourteen Ways to Describe Rain (1941), and an incomplete score for The Circus (1928), with each note emanating from twelve speakers suspended from the ceiling, echoing Cold War tensions. Additionally, eleven large prints juxtapose Eisler's censored FBI documents with his musical compositions. Philipsz's approach conveys emotional resonance without being overly instructive. This work was featured in ArtReview's March 2015 edition.
Key facts
- Hanns Eisler was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee
- Eisler fled Europe in 1938 and was deported from the US in 1948
- His FBI file contains 686 pages, mostly redacted
- Susan Philipsz's Part File Score (2014) deconstructs three Eisler film compositions
- The sound installation uses 12 speakers playing individual violin notes
- Eleven prints overlay FBI records onto Eisler's musical scores
- Eisler's acquaintances included T.W. Adorno, Bertolt Brecht, Charlie Chaplin, and Fritz Lang
- Philipsz's earlier work Study for Strings (2012) was at Documenta 13 in Kassel
Entities
Artists
- Susan Philipsz
- Hanns Eisler
- Walter Ruttmann
- Joris Ivens
- Charlie Chaplin
- Pavel Haas
- T.W. Adorno
- Bert Brecht
- Fritz Lang
Institutions
- House Un-American Activities Committee
- FBI
- National Security Agency
- Documenta
- ArtReview
- Bell Telephone company
Locations
- United States
- Europe
- Austria
- Kassel
- Germany
- Theresienstadt concentration camp
- Czech Republic