Since the 1930s, research has repeatedly drawn attention to the highly developed intelligence and fundamentally peaceful nature of whales and dolphins. Initial efforts to protect whales were undertaken; particularly endangered species, such as the humpback whale, which at the time numbered only about 100 individuals, were placed under international protection; and the first protected zones were established.
Nevertheless, in the 1960s, whaling on the world’s oceans remained a common practice, while at the same time, a different kind of business involving these marine creatures was launched in SeaWorld parks around the world: in small, artificially constructed pools, orcas and dolphins, deprived of their freedom, performed acrobatic tricks for a paying audience.
Then, in 1974, a book titled “The Spirit in the Waters—A Book in Honor of the Consciousness of Whales and Dolphins,” edited by Joan McIntyre, was published. To my knowledge, it was the first book to compile the findings of various researchers on the intelligence and social behavior of whales and dolphins into a comprehensive anthology, making them accessible to a wider public.
“But how is it for that other mind, the mind in the waters? How is it for these enormous, alien brains that traverse the oceans, whose songs ring out, which dream, which dwell on distant memories, which school one another in decency and morals? What does it look like in the spiritual world of a creature whose brain is larger and possibly more complex than ours and which cannot translate its will into world-changing action – if only because it has no hands?”
When OUBEY and I read this book for the first time in 1984, ten years after its publication in Germany, we were impressed and moved by the encounters with whales and dolphins and the stories of experiences with them recounted here. The pathos of esoteric whims was equally foreign to both of us. From our perspective, however, this was about knowledge and a fundamental understanding of facts. The idea that other living beings inhabiting this Earth or its oceans might possess consciousness seemed unimaginable to most people— , at least at that time. That they are intelligent and capable of learning was, after all, no longer in dispute. After all, intelligence agencies have often used the occasional dolphin for their espionage operations and still do so today.
But that they possess consciousness? Don’t they simply follow a genetic-biological program? How could they gain insights that would constitute consciousness, when they know only the elements of water and air and nothing of life on land? And where would they get the free will to make decisions?
We discussed these and many more questions. With questions of this kind, our aim was not to find an answer, certainly not the one true and correct one. In these conversations, our own consciousness opened up to possibilities we had not previously considered. Our self-perception as a species was constantly being put into perspective, without ever underestimating it.
Today, one can find many excellent scientific reports and impressive videos on this topic online, most of which have been published in the last five years. Fifty years ago, Joan McIntyre’s book was a completely new source of insight and inspiration, at least for OUBEY, to whom and to whales and dolphins we have therefore dedicated a special Spark in the OUBEY MINDSPACE:
By the way: 50 million years ago, the ancestors of whales and dolphins still lived on land when, during the Eocene epoch, a major climate change began that caused temperatures and water levels to rise drastically. 10 million years later, they had completely and successfully shifted their habitat to the sea. A unique and impressive evolutionary process that, as a species-specific life and world experience spanning such a long period of time, can justify the idea that something like consciousness may indeed have emerged in this process—whatever that may be.
OUBEY would have been delighted to learn that India officially recognized dolphins as non-human persons in 2013. And even more so that in 2024, the New Zealand Maori, together with the indigenous peoples of Tahiti and the Cook Islands, adopted a joint declaration declaring whales to be legal persons.
If you’ve read this episode, you can perhaps imagine how thrilled and happy I was when nature and whale filmmaker Daniel Opitz, founder of the Ocean Mind Foundation, promised me in 2011 an encounter with an original image of OUBEY on camera in his second home, Maui, Hawaii. Here you can watch the video of this extraordinary encounter.
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There are six rooms in OUBEY MINDSPACE. Each of them contains five different Mind Sparks, which in turn contain various impulses. Behind every Spark and every impulse is a story about OUBEY and what interested and inspired him. I will tell these stories here.
At this point, I would like to thank the Kubikfoto³ team for the great design of OUBEY MINDSPACE, which has already won three prestigious international design awards – most recently the Red Dot Award 2025.
Countless poems and songs have been devoted to its cool light in the dark of night. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata touches us deeply in the soul through its compositional perfection; Debussy’s Clair de Lune lifts us up into floating states of bliss. Jules Verne´s science fiction novel “From the Earth to the Moon” described the journey to our satellite a full century before Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon—astonishingly precise and visionary at the same time. In 1902, pioneer Georges Méliès ventured a cinematic adaptation of this material, creating a milestone in film history, to which Martin Scorsese paid a loving tribute a hundred years later with his film Hugo Cabret . Pink Floyd devoted an entire album to The Dark Side of the Moon, and Bob Dylan, in his epic love song Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, let the moonlight swim in the eyes of the celebrated beauty.
Still from “A Trip to the Moon”, directed by Georges Méliès (1902)
Seen up close, however, the Moon loses its romantic aura. Viewed through a powerful telescope, it reveals a gray, dusty surface covered with craters. Thus, the term “moonscape” became synonymous with inhospitable, desolate regions. Yet the Moon’s influence on Earth is immense: its gravity stabilizes Earth’s axis, causes the tides, affects the biorhythms of certain plants and animals—and presumably even the female fertility cycle. For our ancestors, the Moon was also a celestial body of great spiritual significance.
John F. Kennedy’s announcement to send a human to the Moon within the decade of the 1960s was an expression of the systemic rivalry of that era—but also a testament to pioneering spirit and visionary ambition. On July 20, 1969, this seemingly impossible feat became reality: Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the Moon as the first human being.
Screenshot from the Spark about Space Colonies in the OUBEY MINDSPACE
The exploration of space and human spaceflight had fascinated both OUBEY and me from an early age—independently of one another, long before we met. After we got to know each other, we felt closely connected, not least because we shared a keen interest in the cosmos, its phenomena, mysteries, and history. We celebrated special missions such as the journey of the two Voyager probes Voyager program – Wikipedia into interstellar space or the – initially rather bumpy – launch of the Hubble Space Telescope A friend in space – OUBEY MINDKISS. We were deeply moved by the statement of many astronaut who had been to space and summarized their most important insight from this experience as follows: We went out as technicians, we returned as conscious human beings.
What Aristotle had already recognized in the 4th century BCE, and what Magellan practically proved with his circumnavigation of the globe in the 16th century, received its final visual confirmation through images of the Earth floating freely in dark space—of a beauty that is hard to surpass. Not growing accustomed to this sight, but encountering it again and again with reverence and awe, evokes a humility in thinking about the interconnectedness of existence that hardly anything else can achieve.
When our Earth was still young, about 4.5 billion years ago, it was shaken by a massive collision with a Mars-sized protoplanet. Debris of rock, dust, and molten material was hurled into space, gathered in orbit, and eventually formed the Moon through gravity. This is why the lunar rocks brought back by the Apollo missions so closely resemble those of Earth. Beyond all romance, there is indeed a kind of kinship between Earth and Moon, which has been orbiting it at a distance of around 380,000 kilometers for billions of years—rendering valuable service along the way.
Screenshot from the Spark about Space Exploration in the OUBEY MINDSPACE
Artemis II is scheduled to launch in a few weeks. For the first time in more than fifty years, a crew will once again travel into orbit around the Moon—still without a landing, but in preparation for Artemis III. The mission follows a so-called free-return trajectory. This special flight geometry makes it possible to use the Moon’s gravity as a natural return ticket: even in the event of a complete failure of the main engine, the capsule would return safely to Earth without additional fuel. The laws of physics serve here as the ultimate backup propulsion system.
Public interest today is not comparable to the hype surrounding Apollo 11 at the time. This could change, however, if Artemis III marks the first time since 1972 that humans set foot on the Moon again. And probably even more so when construction begins on the planned base camp, from which the first two-year Mars expedition could launch in as little as 20 years, or even sooner. Since the moon has no atmosphere, no air resistance, and no gravity, the launch conditions here are much more favorable than on Earth. By then, there will also be flowing water on the moon, which is currently still bound in the ice of the Shackleton crater but can be thawed.
As back then, the purpose of such missions is also being questioned today—not least because of the enormous costs. Yet it has never been spaceflight that prevented us from doing our earthly homework or from taking responsibility for ecological balance and peaceful coexistence.
OUBEY had a clear stance on this. What for some was an irreconcilable contradiction belonged inseparably together for him—in his very own vision of the future of humanity and the Earth. Some of his thoughts on this can be heard in the OUBEY MINDSPACE. Jules Verne would probably have taken great delight in it. 🌙
OUBEYs statements can be found in these two rooms at the MINDSPACE:
- On space exploration: https://mindspace.oubey.com/cosmos
- On space colonization: https://mindspace.oubey.com/moebius
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There are six rooms in OUBEY MINDSPACE. Each of them contains five different Mind Sparks, which in turn contain various impulses. Behind every Spark and every impulse is a story about OUBEY and what interested and inspired him. I will tell these stories here.
At this point, I would like to thank the Kubikfoto³ team for the great design of OUBEY MINDSPACE, which has already won three prestigious international design awards – most recently the Red Dot Award 2025.
Effortlessly, masterfully, and radically, he moved across musical genres, resisting the normative force of the mainstream more stubbornly than perhaps any other musician and composer of the 20th century.
Shaped by Stravinsky, Puccini, Webern, and Varèse, his musical output remains a unique convergence of avant-garde, classical music, rock, jazz, and electronic sound. Whether one likes his work or not, this alone makes him a rarity — and a stroke of luck. Kent Nagano conducted Zappa’s orchestral works; Pierre Boulez attended a Zappa concert in Paris in 1980 Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger – Wikipedia, which led to a fruitful collaboration. In Europe, Zappa’s compositions found appreciation and recognition unmatched anywhere else, least of all in the United States.
Zappa not only dissolved boundaries between musical styles, he also violated the behavioural codes of a society that preferred the façade of truth to truth itself. In the 1960s and 70s, his fiercely independent spirit unsettled the puritan-influenced social fabric of the United States. It brought him trouble from many sides, yet never stopped him from following his own uncompromising path.
Frank Zappa could be razor-sharp and humorous at the same time — witty, profound, blunt, satirical, political, courageous.
Free in spirit, inventive in composition, and strict with his band while on tour. Admired by some, despised by others, often triggering tumult during concerts — concerts he sometimes ended prematurely or finished with his back turned to the audience.
A notorious chapter in pop history is the 1971 incident at the Montreux Rainbow Theatre, when an audience member threw a flare onto the stage, igniting a fire that destroyed not only the hall but the entire theatre. Deep Purple immortalized the event in their song Smoke on the Water
OUBEY’s fascination with Zappa and his music began in the mid-1970s, when he first heard the album One Size Fits All. A concert by Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in Cologne at the end of the decade was the first major live concert he had ever attended. That Zappa arrived in a limousine seemed odd but acceptable. That he played the concert rather “unfriendly” due to bottle-throwing from the audience was, however, a sobering experience. For a while, other composers and musicians moved to the foreground.
Screenshot from The MIND SPARK “Music – Frank Zappa”
When The Yellow Shark The Yellow Shark – Album von Frank Zappa | Spotify was released in 1993, his interest resurfaced and matured into a deep appreciation for the work’s complexity, originality, and brilliant live performance with Ensemble Modern. It was the same Zappa — and yet not the same he had seen live at 18. When he learned of Zappa’s early death shortly afterwards, he revisited the discography and rediscovered him all over again.
I vividly remember an afternoon when a fascinating spectacle of sound filled the room — played loudly through the magnificent B&W speakers with tweeters and subwoofer. OUBEY had chosen the speakers and the system after extensive research and countless tests, connecting them with a high-end power cable. Sound quality mattered to him deeply. Years earlier, he had equipped his studio with excellent T&A speakers that remain there to this day.
I listened carefully. I did not recognize the music. It was The Yellow Shark. Until then, OUBEY had only played it in the studio. I asked him what this wonderful music was. “That’s Zappa?” I exclaimed in surprise. It was fantastic. I myself had gone through an earlier Zappa phase — long before I knew OUBEY — with Camarillo Brillo and 200 Motels. From then on, we appreciated him together.
On November 4, 2005, Ensemble Modern — which had collaborated closely with Zappa in his final years and had already performed and recorded The Yellow Shark live under his direction — played the “Shark” at the Konzerthaus Baden-Baden. It was an unforgettable, magnificent concert.
Screenshot from the MIND SPARK “Music – Frank Zappa”
Nearly twenty years later, when the question arose which musicians and which original works should appear in the OUBEY MINDSPACE, it was clear to me that Frank Zappa had to be included — ideally with a track from The Yellow Shark. This choice was about both his music and his unwavering commitment to artistic creativity.
To use the music, I needed an author’s licence. I could only obtain it from Zappa’s family, who have preserved his musical legacy since his death. To my delight, the licence was granted without difficulty, and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Zappa family.
The MindSpark, in which we now hear a one-minute excerpt from “Uncle Meat” from The Yellow Shark is, for me, not only a musical highlight but — through the previously unpublished painting from OUBEY’s computer-art series Zosch and Zorro — also a visual one within this room of the OUBEY MINDSPACE.
“ZZZ” – OUBEY Computer Art
Through the integrated Frank Zappa quote, it also reflects OUBEY’s own view of the relationship between art and the market: “I think that any artistic decision that is based on whether or not you are going to make money is not really an artistic decision. It’s a business decision.”
To anyone who wants to learn something genuine about Frank Zappa, I highly recommend Thorsten Schütte’s documentary Eat That Question – Frank Zappa In His Own Words .
The OUBEY MINDSPACE consists of six rooms. Each contains five different Mind Sparks, each offering impulses of its own. Behind every Spark and every impulse lies a story that tells us more about who OUBEY was — and how he was. These stories are told here by me.
My thanks go to the team of Kubikfoto³ for the outstanding design of the OUBEY MINDSPACE, which has already received three prestigious international design awards — most recently the Red Dot Award 2025.
The artist’s name is OUBEY. And the question of the sources of his inspiration is answered by a virtual experience space: the OUBEY MINDSPACE. In an interactive, playful way, visitors can discover what inspired and excited this artist—from astrophysics, space travel, and science fiction to philosophy, evolutionary history, and poetry to music, film art, and the world of comics. Through immersive narratives, visual content, and personal insights, visitors can get to know OUBEY’s world of ideas and understand the interdisciplinary connections that are expressed in his art.
The experiential journey takes place on two monitors—a large screen on which thoughts come to life in colorful images, accompanied by soundscapes, pieces of music, and sounds. And a touchscreen in front of it, where everyone can freely choose which of the six atmospherically completely different rooms they would like to visit first. Once in one of the rooms, further worlds open up, which can be accessed by clicking on a point. There are also artifacts from the artist’s everyday life and some background stories are told.
The artifacts can be found by clicking on small hidden Polaroid photos. Once all twelve have been found, a link to an OUBEY MINDSPACE playlist on Spotify opens. It contains all the music tracks from MINDSPACE in full length, as well as many other tracks by musicians, composers, and singers who were of special significance to OUBEY.
This is the first time I have presented OUBEY MINDSPACE to the public in this way. Since its premiere at the ZKM Karlsruhe in March, it has been available to people all over the world free of charge on the internet. More than a million people have visited it online since then. Now, for the first time, I can experience the immediate response of other people to this innovative form of presentation. For me, this is just as intense an experience as visiting OUBEY MINDSPACE is for guests.
“For us, it was an adventure to digitally reinvent OUBEYs world,” said Ole Leifels from Kubikfoto³, the team that worked with me for two years to design and then produce OUBEY MINDSPACE. Incidentally, they were recently awarded the coveted Red Dot Design Award for this. He added: “The MINDSPACE shows that technology doesn’t have to be cold. It can be moving, arouse curiosity, and build bridges between art, science, and the public.” All guests of the Kulturbeutel who have visited the OUBEY MINDSPACE have confirmed that this is the case.
This year, the Kulturbeutel Festival in Speyer’s Old Town Hall is offering its guests the OUBEY MINDSPACE as a surprise outside the official program. This unique experience space is hidden behind a black curtain at the entrance to the theater. Anyone can visit it every day between 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and admission is free.
The OUBEY MINDSPACE’s guest appearance in Speyer ends on Sunday, October 12, at 7:30 p.m.
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WOCHENBLATT SPEYER, October 6, 2025
When the extraordinary artist and man OUBEY was unexpectedly torn from life at a young age, a valuable treasure was left behind: his artistic work. The first approach of the MINDKISS project was to make this “hidden treasure” of his life’s work visible and to collect resonance on it.
The public interest in OUBEYs art grew, and so did the curiosity about him as a person and as a personality. For years I answered questions about him simply: “Look at his paintings. You’ll find everything that’s really important about him in his art.”
At the same time, deep inside me arose the desire to give others appropriate access to OUBEYs fascinating interdisciplinary world of knowledge and thought. Appropriate both in terms of the curiosity of the questioners and of OUBEY himself who can no longer answer their questions directly.
A classic biography was out of the question for me. Instead, I wanted to create a playful way of discovering and getting to know OUBEY in his many seemingly contradictory facets – as close and authentic as possible to his nature and his own desire to research and discover.
For years, I searched for a suitable concept. The experiments with virtual reality and AI technology in the MINDKISS project between 2019-2022 finally gave me an idea: to create an interactive experience space in which everyone can immerse themselves in OUBEYs world of thought in an entertaining and aesthetic way.
As OUBEY himself was a technical pioneer and had already created innovative computer art on the Amiga 500 in the 1980s with his PhotonPainting, I knew that he would like this approach – if only it could be implemented in a highly professional manner and meet his own high standards of what he himself described as “reference class”.
Fortunately, I found exactly the right partners at exactly the right time to realize this bold idea. When Ole Leifels and the Kubikfoto³ team agreed, the great adventure of working together creatively began. It was an intensive process of congenial design, filled with enthusiasm and the pure joy of doing.
The result is called OUBEY MINDSPACE and celebrated its premiere at the ZKM Karlsruhe on March 25, 2025. Since then, the project has already reached thousands and thousands of people worldwide via the social web. This enormous response fills me with joy – not only because of the impressive numbers but also because it has created a new, universal access to the world of OUBEY. A form of expression that does him justice in terms of both content and art and is already inspiring people of all ages.
This has always been OUBEY MINDKISS’ aspiration. For 15 years we came closer to it step by step. Now the OUBEY MINDSPACE represents a great leap forward in terms of public attention and interest – and yet it is also just the beginning. A significant part of OUBEYs work still lies hidden and is waiting to see the light of day and be discovered in the coming years.
My hope is that this growing public resonance will also generate media interest and partnerships with suitable institutions to bring OUBEYs art and the spirit that lies within it even further into the world. That would be wonderful, appropriate to the work – and certainly in keeping with its spirit.
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With many thanks to Kubikfoto³ for the congenius collaboration. The header is a screenshot of the OUBEY MINDSPACE: https://mindspace.oubey.com