Vernissage Inexhaustible Editions: SOUNDING SPOMENIK
Freitag, 1. Dezember 2023 · 19:00 Uhr
Inexhaustible Editions: SOUNDING SPOMENIK
mit Tadeja Žele solo (Violoncello) · Vida Vatovec solo (Altsaxophon) · Anton Iakhontov a.k.a. Patrick K.-H. (Mehrkanal-Klangprojektion, Live-Visuals) · Jernej Babnik Romaniuk (Field Recordings, Gespräch) · Belma Bešlić-Gál (Vortrag, Gespräch) · László Juhász (Projektleitung, Gespräch) (Stimmen)
Eine Koproduktion mit Wien Modern in Kooperation mit KUD Mreža und ON Rizom / Inexhaustible Editions sowie SKICA
While the striking still enigmatic visuality of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s abstract brutalist monuments has been well-documented in recent years, hardly we know anything about their sounding aspects. Most of these spomeniks (original form in plural spomenici, meaning memorials in Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian languages, derived from the root spomen- that means memory) have hollow parts that serve as resonant spaces. The most characteristic materials these historical artefacts were made of are poured concrete and rebar, or steel frame with metallic covering plates. Materials that certainly influence or have audible modifying features to sounds. Curiously, so far, nobody has examined, documented thoroughly and published these enduring landscape objects as acoustic spaces. Besides the spomeniks‘ direct sonic aspects, little we know about their surrounding acoustic environments. Majority of these unique and individual monuments were constructed in remote rural locations, usually far from any urbanization, while some of them were erected in city centres or suburbs, or near villages – all presuming a highly diverse sounding ambiance.
However spomeniks functioned – and some of them still function – as World War II memorials with clear anti-fascist connotation, and from the mid-50s until the late 70s as the groundworks and materialized emblems of Josip Broz Tito’s utopian idea of a strong and united Yugoslavian state with the high-sounding slogan ‚brotherhood and unity‘; we regard these abstract but undisputedly iconic modernist constructions as mere architectural works of art. Peeling off all possible political and ideological layers, it is not our task to judge whether these monuments are useless politicised relics of the former Yugoslavia’s communist past, or significant historical artefacts that still need admiration. As a record label we are merely interested in sounds.
In 2021, Inexhaustible Editions sublabel Edition FriForma started a long-term research, recording and publishing project to explore and reveal the sonic attributes of spomeniks of the former Yugoslavia (those now can be found in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and in North Macedonia) by asking local instrumentalists – mainly young but remarkably talented professional musicians working locally or internationally on the fields of free improvised or contemporary composed music – to play sounds on-site, and to find the most responsive or fascinating sounding parts of the monuments. Besides the intentional sounds produced by musical instruments, we intent to document the immediate surroundig’s unintentional sounds as well via environmental recordings. Each year we plan to visit, examine and reflect on at least three or four monuments through field trips, recording sessions and eventually, audio publications. By now, we have gathered more than twenty locations with emblematic spomeniks that are relevant to our Sounding Spomenik project. – László Juhász, April 2021
Program
19:00 Uhr: Exhibition Opening
Photo exhibition „Concrete Lines“ and video installation „Stands Still, the Monument by Janez Lenassi“
„Unheard Stories: Sonic Aspects of Yugoslavia’s Brutalist Monuments“, a lecture by Belma Bešlić-Gál
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. While their distinctive and somewhat enigmatic appearance has attracted worldwide attention and has been the subject of extensive research in recent years, almost nothing is known about their intrinsic acoustical properties that represent an equally fascinating area for exploration. In the year 2021, Edition FriForma, an offshoot of the record label Inexhaustible Editions, embarked on an enduring endeavor to unearth the aural characteristics of the Spomeniks of former Yugoslavia by uncovering their sonic properties and capturing random ambient sounds through site-specific field recordings.
„From Planning To Execution“, a talk with sound engineer Jernej Babnik Romaniuk and producer László Juhász, moderated by Belma Bešlić-Gál
20:30 Uhr: Performances
„Ilisrka Bistrica“, solo cello performance by Tadeja Žele, multi-channel sound distribution and live visualization by Patrick K.-H.
The improvised solo set is highly inspired by the memory and atmosphere of the performer’s recording session that took place in August 2021 at Janez Lenassi’s iconic monument in Ilirska Bistrica in Slovenia. The solo cello performance is accompanied by a multi-channel sound distribution of the actual and unmanipulated field recordings by Patrick K.-H. that were captured at the location during Žele’s recording for Sounding Spomenik.
„Dražgoše“, solo saxophone performance by Vida Vatovec, multi-channel sound distribution and live visualization by Patrick K.-H.
Vida Vatovec’s alto saxophone solo is also improvised, however, undeniably inspired by her experience of the half-day recording session that happned in August 2021 at architect Boris Kobe and sculptor Stojan Batič’s three-level breathtaking memorial complex in Dražgoše. Again, the performance is complemented by Patrick K.-H.’s multi-channel sound distribution of field recordings captured in and around the architecture where Vatovec recorded for Sounding Spomenik.
