World Listening Day on 18th of July – Listening Session by Semi-Silent
SONIC FUTURE RESIDENCE celebrates WORLD LISTENING DAY 2018
Collective sound research at Domeniul Otetelișanu (Romania). Listening session, 4pm.
The 18th of July falls on the last day of a sound art and field recording residence called Sonic Future, organized by Asociaţia Jumătatea plină in the Romanian countryside (9-18 July). The participants are 6 Romanian authors (Mara Maracinescu, Maria Balabas, Simina Oprescu, Anamaria Pravicencu, Zsolt Sütő and Octav Avramescu) and 2 invited artists: Felix Blume(France/Mexico) and Sara Lana (Brazil). Felix Blume is the mentor of the residence. In the afternoon of the 18th of July we organize a listening session in order to present some of the works made during the residence, mainly field recordings of the way of living in relation with nature in the countryside.
The Romanian countryside is rich in insects, birds, a wide range of domestic animals, agricultural activities in the fields, voices… The sounds of today are a mix of „since always”, with memories and the evidence of now. But will the densely composed silence of the valley keep the same spectrum in 20 years from now? The question about tomorrow’s sounds is not a question about sound, but rather a question about people, their relation to nature and technologies, to tradition or modernity, to long term gestures or immediate reflexes.
The artist is permanently choosing between the ability given by technology to record everything and his conscious desire for an „exemplary” selection. S/he is yearning for detachment from nature’s implacable perfection and already carrying the burden of re-writing. Her or his presence is maybe already altering the testimony of nature itself in the benefit of art?
Project supported by AFCN and Fundația Domeniul Otetelișanu.
Photo: Laurentiu Dinca aka Stramba-Lemne