Univorm

Born in 1977, Thomas Mahmoud is a Berlin based cross-disciplinary artist – musician, sound designer, performer, author and radioplay producer.

Since stepping down as the singer with Cologne based band Von Spar (L'age d'or, Tomlab), he has pursued his interests in deconstructing sounds, using analogue and digital tools to work with textures and field recordings. His installation and sound design work is renowned, not least his 48-hour opera with the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop or his work with choreographer Kat Válastur at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens.

Many musicians eras­e mis­takes – sta­tic pro­duced by tan­gled wires between the instru­ment and the ampli­fier painstak­ingly fil­tered-out, the ran­dom record­ing mis­takes deleted and corrected, until every­thing is pleas­antly plain. Oth­ers work with the waste of these pro­ce­dures, with the dis­pens­able, the sonic trash. This is how Mahmoud works. He lis­tens closely and grabs the hiss and the hum, not the tone, of a thick bass string. He samples the breath­ing, not the voice, of his favourite singers.

A collaborator by instinct, Mahmoud has worked with the likes of Can Khan Oral, Michael Wertmüller, Mouse on Mars, Birds Of Death, Jammin' Unit, Dr Walker, Marcus Schmickler and many more. "Univorm" is his most recent multimedia project, in collaboration with visual artist Stefan Fähler.