How to Reassemble a Cultural Community Through Sound Practices: An Essay Based on Personal Artistic and Curatorial Experience

Since February 2022, a large number of talented, thoughtful, and active people from the cultural and artistic spheres have left St. Petersburg (and other Russian cities). For most of them, it was unsafe to remain in a militaristic country due to personal political views, radical positions, and/or belonging to persecuted and oppressed communities (queer, left-wing, dissenting, etc.).

Due to mass migration, the local cultural community (here and after, I will be referring to St. Petersburg) that had been formed over years has significantly diminished. Those who remained found themselves in deep depression, a state of anxiety, and utter helplessness. It was difficult to imagine that any cultural life was possible at all – everything seemed completely meaningless against the backdrop of the events taking place.

In late 2022, my remaining colleagues and I decided to gather more often, communicate, and sculpt with clay. We found ourselves in a large basement of a former gallery, which was cluttered with the belongings of emigrated artists – art, books, suitcases of clothing. At first, we just gathered to support each other. Then, we cleared the space of belongings to organize workshops for ourselves. Gradually, we had a library, a ceramics workshop with a kiln, a tattoo parlor, and a studio for working with sound.

During that period, I had completely switched from visual art to sound research. This happened for several reasons. One of them was working with visually impaired artists. Together, we were preparing a tactile installation, I practiced audio description, and my attitude towards sound and auditory attention changed significantly. I was also greatly influenced by local (now emigrated) sound artists, my colleagues, teachers, and inspirations - Marina Karpova, Polina Fenko, Yulia Glukhova, the projects of the NII Shuma (Noise Research Institute), Krasnye Zori, uhushuhu, Bridging feminism.

There is a lot of literature on sound research, and of course, I have long been familiar with the work of such iconic figures as, for example, Pauline Oliveros or R. Murray Schafer. However, it is important to note that such literature in translation into russian has only recently begun to appear. For example, the russian publishing house New Literary Observer has begun publishing a series of books, “A History of Sound,” which includes translations of texts by Christoph Cox, Michel Chion, Brandon LaBelle, and Mark Fisher.

As it turned out later, the shift into sound proved to be a necessary and therapeutic means for other visual artists as well. I think this was largely influenced by the overabundance of traumatizing visual information and the physical need to switch attention to a different sense.

In the summer of 2023, the first Summer sound route bus took place. This is a self-organized sound expedition in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area, incorporating practices of listening to the environment through physicality and rhythm, through various devices and observations.

In this case, “route bus” is not a technical transport, but a moving and changing collective of researchers. Each day, the group has a new driver-guide who offers to try their artistic or research practice related to sound – a walk, workshop, lecture, sound extraction, picnic, and so on. The experience gained becomes the route.

When I came up with this project, it was clear that I myself needed similar practices, and that exploring sound collectively could be much more interesting and profound. So, I started looking for people willing to lead practices and was pleasantly surprised by the willingness to participate and the positive response. Our mediators and drivers were visual, sound, and dance artists, composers, visually impaired researchers, guide dogs, and sound engineers. 10 days of intense consonance turned our consciousness upside down. A community of like-minded people was formed, small but very attentive and caring. It was then that I thought that sound is a form of care, that through attentive listening we can understand each other without words, that sound can tell a lot about its source. And of course, that everyone hears the world differently.

“Hearing is not limited to the ear. What sounds also resonates: is re-voiced in new media. To listen is to participate in this resonance. Participation makes transmission possible, a translation that further expands resonance. To truly listen also means understanding that there is resonance everywhere and that without resonance there is no knowledge.” ¹

One of the events of the Summer sound route bus took place in basement where my colleagues and I had set up workshops. My small studio welcomed its first guests at the “Free Mixer” event, where anyone could perform with a small setup after leaving an application in advance. The event was successful and received a great response. People needed such a safe space where they could perform freely, communicate, and not be afraid to experiment. It was also then that I met my future co-curator, Denis. He was playing with cassette loops and was interested in holding concerts among friends.

At the end of 2023, we launched the Audio Club project. This is a meeting place for researchers and collectors of sounds, as well as lovers of thoughtful listening and (re)production, experimental extraction, and noises.

Our slogan is: Listen attentively, sound is a care ^^

The club hosts the exchange of knowledge and devices, jams, live performances, lectures and discussions, and listening to audio works.

Currently, the community has around a thousand people, of course, far fewer people are actively involved, but we can broadcast and disseminate information to a fairly wide audience. The Summer sound route bus has already taken place twice, and I plan to continue it this year. Of course, there are also a large number of problems that have to be faced, I think this deserves a separate text.

I consider these projects as therapy, as a reflection on current events, and as collective artistic and research practices. Sound became the binding material of a renewed collective body, and we will continue to explore its properties.

In Russia, there are a lot of people who do not support the war, who worry, suffer, and are anxious. Living in an aggressor country means being pushed out as outcasts from the normal world, which is absolutely natural.

Nevertheless, while being here, it is important to unite and continue the development of important initiatives, even if they are underground. There are many such initiatives in Russia; I have given an example of a sound community, but this is only a tiny fraction.

Will be good to establish connections with foreign colleagues; I think we have something to share with each other. And if sound is a form of care, then most likely it has the shape of a sphere.

Pictures:

1. metal work, practitioners of physical and sound interaction with metal objects, Guided by Pavel Shargala, dance artist
2. Balcony hearings, guided by Daria Orlova, sound artist
3. Sound walk through the village of Novosaratovka (a former German settlement), guides – Tanya Chernomordova, Greht, artists
4. Feedback workshop in a church, guides – students of the New Cinema School
5. Acoustic coniferous noise, concert, guide – Denis Patrabaev
6. Audio plein–air, guide – Anna Martynenko

Footnotes

1. The Hum of the World: The philosophy of listening / 2019, University of California press ↩