Geolocation newmedia performance
Thursday, 23 Sep 2021 at 6.30 p.m.
Vilharjeva cesta (near railway underpass), Ljubljana
festival Sound Walk City · prelude
production of Ljudmila, festival Is it working?
To participate, send an email to info@cona.si

A walk along the railway tracks, with the help of an app and headphones, leads a viewer, a wanderer and an eavesdropper into a performative space.

The work was created during the time of the epidemic when all public life had come to a standstill. As a result, the thick layer of the all-encompassing and constant noise disappeared, the existence of which we only really became aware of once it was gone. The authors captured this period, marked by weeks of silence and the gradual return of noise, with their recording equipment, walked paths and by discovering local microspaces. The result of their research is the existent locative performance, which, through the absence of noise, tells a tale of a future space. By using geolocation tools, the performance reflects on an experiential experience of landscape and sound and, in these complicated times, brings forth thoughts about the potential of a degraded space from the perspective of a society incapable of dialogue. The latter is using its last atoms of strength to depict dominance over the planet, while plants on the other side are blossoming, intertwining and even consoling, soothing, silencing and covering the all-pervasive species. The rhythm of walking, listening-in to the transitional space, a path that leads away from the overburdened city, and of listening to the degraded, waiting spaces, which are being taken back by nature, form the stance of this period of time … before it ends.

Irena Pivka is an artist, producer, architect and scenographer. In recent years she has primarily focused on artworks that shed light on the connection between place, sound, map and digital tools. Her evolving artistic expression is centered on sound-geolocation performances, which, with the help of location tools and created sound images, combine walking and listening.

Brane Zorman is a composer, sound and intermedia artist, sound manipulator, producer and curator. Besides composing for the theatre, intermedia and dance, he is focused on developing different strategies, techniques, dynamic and interactive models in his work on sound and space, recording and reinterpreting soundscapes and creating electronic and acoustic sound sculptures using sophisticated tools.

Credits
Artists: Irena Pivka, Brane Zorman
Translation and editing: Melita Silič
Cover photo: Matjaž Rušt
Production: Ljudmila, festival Is it working?
In collaboration: Cona, Institute for Contemporary Arts Processing
part of the festival Sound Walk City · prelude
part of the project Acoustic Commons

Sound Walk City · prelude was initiated by the walk · listen · create platform, in collaboration with the Cona Institute. The Ljubljana edition is produced by the Cona Institute, Steklenik Gallery.