interspecies sound events, part of the International Dawn Chorus Day

lecture / Friday, 5 May, at 18:00
live sound event / Friday, 5 May, at 19:00
Kuharica observatory, Lake Cerknica

live sound event / Sunday, 7 May, at 5:06
Koščeva path, Ljubljana Marsh

International Dawn Listening Day takes place every year on the first Sunday in May and is a celebration of nature’s greatest symphony. All over the world, people get up early to enjoy the beautiful sounds of birdsong!

At CONA we celebrate this day with our yearly production of AnimotMUZIK. This year brings a collaboration with curator Katarina RADALJAC, established American clarinetist David ROTHENBERG, accomplished harpist Eduardo RAON and exemplary vocalist Tea VIDMAR.

Photo: Irena PIVKA, arhiv CONA.

The concept of the annual AnimotMUZIK cycle is based on direct interspecies musical improvisation between humans and other non-human animal species. Performing artists, together with the inhabitants of the natural environment, will create joint ecological events, which will be accompanied by an introductory lecture and workshop for professional musicians, interested in the field of zoomusicology.

Attentive listening and an appropriate response to the surroundings and everyone involved in the sound event are directly accompanied by the ethical rules of interspecies creation, which are based on a respectful attitude towards other animal species. They perceive these artists as independent personalities, with their own desires and needs for exploration as well as for evading stressful situations. The sound narrative of each event is thus quite fluid.

Photo: Matej TOMAŽIN, CONA archive.

Eduardo RAON is a classically trained Portuguese harpist, composer and sound designer who lives in Ljubljana. In addition to international engagement, he also works in Slovenia. He creates contemporary and improvised music, playing with a kaleidoscope of ethno, noise, pop, retro, rock, ambient and electronic music. He creates music for theater shows and performances, he is intensely active in the field of film music, he wrote and performed a number of musical accompaniments for films, especially in the Slovenian Cinematheque.

David ROTHENBERG is a musician, composer and writer. He teaches philosophy and music as a distinguished professor at the Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey. He deals with the study of man’s relationship with nature and with the sounds of non-human animals, which he treats as musical. He is one of the main creators in the field of interspecies music, known for his musical improvisations with animals, especially birds, insects and whales.

Tea VIDMAR creates in the field of street theater, music and vocal performances. As a vocalist, she worked with musical groups (Positive illusion, Skarabej, duo Aritmija, Širom…), as a soloist and in collaborations with local and foreign musicians and musicians (Samo Kutin, Ana Kravanja, Andrej Fon, Nina Mureškič, Tena Novak Vincek, Ivan Marincel, Damir Prica Kafka, Roko Crnić et al.) also performs in the field of contemporary improvised and experimental music.

Katarina RADALJAC are a master of musicology who devote their research to the music of non-human animals and interactions with them. In their work, they combines various scientific and artistic fields such as zoomusicology, applied ethnomusicology, interspecies art, human-animal studies, animal ethics and others. They improved their knowledge at the University of Music in Nuremberg, with prof. Martin Urllich, one of the leading zoomusicologists in Europe. Since 2013, they has been a permanent part-time contributor to the 3rd program of Radio Slovenia – the Ars program.

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana, Department for Culture.

Colophon
Artists: Eduardo RAON, David ROTHENBERG and Tea VIDMAR
Curator: Katarina RADALJAC
Organisation: Katarina RADALJAC, Irena PIVKA, Eva TURŠIČ (KD Cerknica)
Technical support: Brane ZORMAN
Public relations: Matej TOMAŽIN, Urša GAJŠEK (DOPPS)
Photo: Matej TOMAŽIN, Irena PIVKA
Video: Matej TOMAŽIN
Production: Cona, Institute for Contemporary Art Processing, 2023

Project partners are Society for the Observation and Study of Birds of Slovenia (DOPPS) and Cultural Center Cerknica, Notranjska Park.