NO MORE SILENCE / BREZ TIŠINE

Osrednja festivalska razstava / Central Festival exhibition

Umetniki / Artists:
Robin Meier, Roberto Pugliese, Michele Spanghero, Alberto Tadielo, Hui Ye

Roberto Pugliese, Concerto per natura morta, Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, 2020

NO MORE SILENCE je razstava, namenoma in idealno zasnovana na pentatonski lestvici, ki jo lahko beremo na različne načine, odvisno od fizične in mentalne poti, ki jo uberemo, da sprejmemo sporočilo: berimo tišino, da lahko slišimo; osvobodimo se vsega, da lahko znova zaživimo in razmislimo o samih sebi ter o svetu.

Tišina, dih, glas, zvok in narava so ključni elementi razstave, ki s številnimi artikuliranimi, samostojnimi in edinstvenimi projekti, ki iščejo in se ozirajo za ničelno točka zvoka, ta je v tem primeru mišljena kot človeška usmeritev, odpirajo trenutek opazovanja, v katerem nam pred očmi izginjata sedanjost in prihodnost.

Tako nas fizično in čustveno pritegne zvočna skulptura Ad Lib., ki jo je ustvaril Michele Spanghero in ki združuje medicinsko napravo za avtomatsko predihavanje pljuč in nekaj orgelskih piščali, ki igrajo glasbeni akord v skladu s konstantnim ritmom mehaničnega dihanja; iz tega nastane umetni organ, v metaforičnem smislu mehanski rekviem, ki odzvanja brez prestanka. Po drugi strani Alberto Tadiello, izhajajoč iz pesmi Thirteen z albuma Hospice skupine The Antlers, deluje med suspenzijo in fizično napetostjo dveh umetnih teles, ki hrepenita po dotiku; ta ostaja neuresničen, kar povzroča nasprotujoče si reakcije, med drugim osuplost, okoljsko udeležbo in popolno preobrazbo prostora. Koncert za mrtvo naravo (Il concerto per natura morta) Roberta Puglieseja je sestavljen iz trinajstih mrtvih kostanjevih debel, visečih v zraku v vodoravnem položaju na različnih višinah. V vsakem od njih se nahaja zvočnik, ki omogoča amplifikacijo in uravnavanje zvoka glede na obseg in obliko debla. Reproduciran zvok instalacije izhaja iz mesta, od koder so bila debla odstranjena, in iz posnetkov nastalih med njihovo pripravo. Kasneje so bili ti zvoki digitalno procesirani s pomočjo za ta namen zasnovane programske opreme, nato pa kompozicijsko sestavljeni. Posledično se uporabnik potopi v »tihožitje«, kjer prisotnost zvočnega vidika, skupaj z veličastno in impresivno vizualno teksturo, ustvarja mogočen čustven učinek in vzbuja veliko zanimanje. Za razliko od Puglieseja nas švicarski umetnik Robin Meier z instalacijo Synchronicity popelje v mangrovske gozdove na Tajskem, v katerih tam živeče kresnice (Pteroptyx malaccae) sinhronizirajo svoje utripe z računalniško nadzorovanimi LED sijalkami. Ob vzpostavitvi svetlobne komunikacije z žuželkami umetnik vpliva na ritmično utripanje velikih kolonij kresnic, tihi orkester pa tako deluje usklajeno, ne da bi potreboval dirigenta. V tej ritmični svetlobni kompoziciji se računalniki in insekti sporazumevajo brez centralnega nadzora.

Delo kitajske umetnice Hui Ye lip-synch temelji na konceptu izmenjave in reinterpretacije zvoka in podob, ki nastajajo med govorjenjem, s čimer želi umetnica preučiti in razčleniti temeljno funkcijo jezika. S tem ko odstrani izvirne zvočno-jezikoslovne informacije, se »govorjene« podobe preobrazijo v vizualno notacijo za performanse, v katerih se jezik spremeni v nesmiselne avdio-vizualne izraze.


NO MORE SILENCE is an exhibition, deliberately and ideally based on a pentatonic scale that can be read in various manners, depending on the physical and mental direction with which one opens up to embrace the message: „Read the silence to listen, to liberate ourselves from everything so we can start to live again and rethink ourselves and the world.“

Silence, breath, voice, sound, and nature; these are the key elements of the exhibition and together with various articulated, individual, and singular projects that are searching for the zero point of sound, intended here as the human orientation, they are offering a foregleam of the moment in which our own present and our future are lost out of sight.

So we find ourselves physically and emotionally involved, attracted to the sound sculpture Ad Lib. by Michele Spanghero which combines a medical machine for automatic pulmonary ventilation with a few organ pipes that play a musical chord to the constant rhythm of the mechanical breath, thus creating an artificial organ that is metaphorically a mechanical requiem which produces sounds incessantly. Then there is Alberto Tadiello, whose work, using the song Thirteen from the Hospice album by The Antlers as a starting point, builds up a suspension and physical tension between two artificial bodies yearning for a contact which, however, remains unattained; in this way it creates conflicting reactions, such as startlement, environmental involvement, and a complete transformation of space. Il concerto per natura morta (A concert for dead nature) by Roberto Pugliese, on the other hand, is composed of thirteen dead chestnut trunks suspended in horizontal position in the air at different heights. Inside each trunk is a speaker which allows the sound to be amplified and modified, in line with trunks’ volume and shape. The sounds reproduced by the installation derive from the places from which the trunks were taken, as well as from recordings made during the process of their preparation. They have been later processed in a digital manner using software designed for this purpose and then compositionally assembled. In this way, the user is immersed in a “still life” where the presence of the sound aspect, combined with the imposing and impressive visual texture, provides the work with a great emotional and engaging impact. In comparison to Pugliese’s view on the sound of nature, the Swiss artist Robin Meier in his installation Synchronicity leads us into a mangrove forest in Thailand, where live fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae) synchronise their flashes with computer-controlled LEDs. By establishing a light-based form of communication with insects, the artist influences the rhythmic flashing of large colonies of fireflies. A silent orchestra harmonises without the need for a conductor. With no central control, computers and insects interact in this rhythmic composition of light.

Following to a precise concept of exchanging and reinterpreting sound and images in the act of speaking, the work by Chinese artist Hui Ye lip-synch aims to examine and deconstruct the fundamental function of language. Whilst removing the original auditive/linguistic information, the “spoken” images have become a visual notation for performances in which languages are turned into senseless audio-visual expressions.

Michele Spanghero, Ad lib., Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, 2020, foto Špela Težak

Robin Meier, Synchronicity, Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, 2020

Alberto Tadiello, 13, Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, 2020

Hui Ye, Lip Synch, Galerija mesta Ptuj / Ptuj City Gallery, 2020