15 Mar 2024

Ma

 


The new release coming out on Richard Chartier's label LINE, on April 19th, 2024.

LINE_151

Serbian sound artist, poet, curator, and researcher, Manja Ristić returns for her second release for LINE after 2023's 'Awakenings' (LINE_138). Her new album 'Ma' recalls the incredibly subtle, detailed works of Steve Roden, Francisco López, and Bernhard Günter fused with the adept field recordings of Jana Winderen and the delicate resonances of Toshiya Tsunoda. Two entrancing long-form works incorporating field recordings, acoustic instruments, and unexpected found sounds.


Ma — depth of the space, of the environment, of relations and mystical interrelatedness. The hidden or obvious void that defines the form and liberates from it at the same time. Ma and the sound? The weight of emptiness and quietness is revealed by unexpected density—the space chants, the chants spread in waves, pulsations, a pellucid spectrum of timbre.

“I hear the water dreaming” echoes in my mind.

Patterns of the forest chorus build pandiatonic clouds, on the brim of sonic hallucinations, we hear the space breathing, vellum of light expanding, beyond our hearing range.

Sounds of Ma deep in the ground, on the surface, underwater, on the surface of the water, in the air, between gravity and the air; Ma between air and objects, tubes and thermal bodies, between the Moon and its reflection; bottom of the silent lake and the stratosphere far beyond our world next to the frozen planet with the hidden ocean.

Ma of the soul caught on the tape.

Nothing is necessary.

Nothing holds everything together.


List of field recordings and samples:

• Giant anthill in the abandoned forest quarry
• Cricket chorus next to Pohořský rybník lake
• Hydrophone recording of the “silent lake” Stierhüblteich
• Hydrophone recording of the river Schwarze Aist and its various tributaries
• Bowing cymbal under the full moon next to the Schwarze Aist (recorded by Abby Lee Tee)
• Museum of Contemporary Art Ljubljana—ventilation in the man’s toilet (recorded by Mark Vernon)
• Cassini passing between Saturn and Enceladus Moon (NASA sounds)
• Dad’s boiler
• Breath and broken tape recorder hum extracted from Toru Takemitsu’s tape “Ki Sora Tori” (1956)
• Bowing glass vase
• Two wine glasses gently trembling in front of the fan
• Electro-magnetic field around the broken socket
• Violin

Releases April 19, 2024

Sounds, composition, images, and text by Manja Ristić
Mastering La Plant Studio

© all rights reserved

8 Mar 2024

the scaffold

 


A new collaborative release coming out on the fantastic label Unfathomless

"the scaffold" is announced for pre-order on Unfathomless, a marvelous collaboration with dear friend Patrick Tubin McGinley aka murmer, and under the skillful baton of Daniel Crokaert.

Releases March 18th, 2024

Recording, composing, and editing by Manja Ristić and Patrick Tubin McGinley from March 2020 to November 2022.

Mastering by Flavien Gillié.

Cover & card design + treatments by Daniel Crokaert.

17 Feb 2024

Sélection Musiques Expérimentales 2024


 

With great honor and gratitude, I announce that my album water memory —— mnemosonic topographies of the Adriatic is a laureate at the Sélection Musiques Expérimentales 2024 of the prestigious Academie Charles Cros

Among the incredible works of Chœur tac-til, Lionel Marchetti, Marja Ahti, Oren Ambarchi & Eric Thielemans, Paula Matthusen & Olivia Valentine, Natalia Beylys, Crys Cole, Cloning, Pali Meursault & Thomas Tilly, the Grand Prix went to the album Melt by Pali Meursault et Thomas Tilly. My sincere admiration and congratulations to the winners!

For me, this selection indicates that experimental music, being for a long time deeply embedded in the processes of European socio-cultural transformation, is finally reaching a wider cultural audience and gaining deserved attention from influential cultural institutions such as the Academie Charles Cros.

Not to mention the effort and focus of the Commission, which in my case was to select a small self-released artistic research dealing with abstract notions such as the phenomenology of listening, the mnemosonic and mnemopoetic properties of the Third Landscape, and the historical sites on the brim of the European heritage —— geographically, culturally, and ecologically. 

Once again, thank you for this incredible opportunity to be heard and presented among some of the most incredible experimental music creators of our time!

Here you can read the presentation of water memory —— mnemosonic topographies of the Adriatic written by Guillaume Kosmicki for the Academie Charles Cros Sélection Musiques Expérimentales 2024.

"C’est un fait, la puissance évocatrice, sensitive et émotionnelle des sons aquatiques saisit presque à coup sûr l’auditeur ou l’auditrice sensibles. Manja Ristić propose avec ce Water memory une symphonie de l’eau, parée de toutes ses couleurs sonores, depuis les gouttelettes cristallines jusqu’aux sons d’orage, en passant par les textures sous-marines, les clapotis de vagues et une infinité d’autres états. Au travers de captations de pollutions sonores diverses, de sons enregistrés dans des carrières en ruine ou dans des bases militaires abandonnées, son projet a pour ambition d’évoquer « les négligences humaines transformées par l’intelligence de la nature ». Fait remarquable, l’artiste enregistre près de 60 ans plus tard sur l’île de Korčula, qui fut le lieu de captation d’une œuvre pionnière en 1967, le Presque rien n°1 de Luc Ferrari. La filiation semble évidente, notamment lorsque surgit le chant des cigales. Une réflexion poétique et écologique sur le temps et sur la mémoire."

listen & read 

13 Feb 2024

ghosts



radio premiere of the work > ghosts <
February 22nd, 2024

The deeper I am investigating field recording as both artistic and listening practice, the more I become aware that each recording session is an intrusion into the landscape and that the landscape, whatever historical, biotic, or environmental system defines it – is sentient to my presence.

No matter how considerate my “intrusions” are, an abstract form of communication always takes place, and it largely depends on my ability to maintain this connection, which goes beyond the soundscape and sonic properties of the place. In this sense, my capacity to employ deep intuition and activate a specific neural architecture developed through a compound of skills also defines the recording process and its future aesthetic transformation. Thus, making a field recording fully personalized practice and soundscape composition a discipline of open interpretation, as well as a vast field for misuse and false representation of a particular soundscape. Regardless of an evaluation system, whether we contemplate an act of listening through scientific observation of one’s cognition event boundaries or through the capacity to comprehend the existential phenomenology of Zulu spiritualism, the possibility that two or more listeners can have the same listening experience is minuscule.

We are all deeply rooted in a diversity of psychological constructs; neural and sensory imprints, memory compounds, cognitive abilities, and many body-mind pathways determining our current psycho-physical state. Therefore, if the field recording practice is based on any form of active listening – it is a discipline based on interpretation.
With that in mind, I am asking: How do we approach the landscape of severe devastation and a dense history of warfare? Knowing that serious ethical and moral consequences are involved in the effort to interpret a particular soundscape.

In the work “ghosts” I am using obsolete instruments – a modular synthesizer built in 1970, a discarded wheelchair wheel salvaged from the Adriatic Sea, and the piano fallen in disuse which belonged to the Austrian conceptualist, filmmaker, improviser, photographer, environmentalist, and writer – Karl Katzinger aka John Tylo (October 1953 – April 2021). Next to these elements of the past and their voices rediscovered, I am incorporating hydrophone and field recordings from several locations appropriating them through the discourse of critical tourism and a culture of memory – more specifically through listening to the inherent memories of environmental devastation due to exploitation of natural resources as well as warfare – in the South Adriatic (Old town Dubrovnik and island of Vrnik), and the Czech-Austrian borderlands nearby of Mauthausen–Gusen concentration camps.

Instruments:
EMS Synthi 100
Wheelchair wheel salvaged from the sea
John Tylo’s old piano

Field recordings:
Dubrovnik – Stradun air conditioning units and collection of rubbish containers
Vrnik Island South Adriatic – crickets in an ancient limestone quarry
Adriatic dolphins *hydrophone recording by Robertina Šebjanič
Harrachstal village on Czech-Austrian borderlands – crickets in the abandoned granite quarry
Hydrophone recordings of the river Schwarze Aist
Train coming into Freistadt train station in Austria

All sounds performed, recorded, composed & edited by Manja Ristić
Some sounds gathered at the SHAPE + musikprotocoll residency, July 2023
Hydrophone used for underwater recording made by Jez riley French
Mastering by La Plant Studio

 

23 Jan 2024

basne



New self-release is coming out on January 27th!

Manja Ristić & Mark Vernon

basne


Our initial dialog with Synthia was an adventurous creative endeavour that made us question whether machines could have a soul. This one definitely spoke her mind, and left a fascinating mark on both of us as a wondrous machine——————woman, a marvelous piece of engineering, an entity trapped in a modular eternity.

Considering that neither of us had any previous contact with such a complex modular system such as EMS Synthi 100, we took a somewhat intuitive approach. This is a fairly raw glimpse of the first days spent in the studio.

Oh, Synthia, we only just met...
~

Happy birthday Mark!!!

~

Composing, editing, patching & live mixing: Manja Ristić

Live mixing & patching: Mark Vernon

Cover art: Manja Ristić —— segment of the sculpture by Angelina Gatalica made in memory of Serbian painter Nadežda Petrović, erected in 1989 in the Pioneer’s Park, on the occasion of the IX Summit of Non-Aligned Countries.

13 Jan 2024

Rituals in Transfigured Time



The premiere of "Rituals in Transfigured Time" — a collaborative radio work with Serbian artist and tape loop wizard Marko Paunović, commissioned by Radio Belgrade for ART’S BIRTHDAY 2024 /// Euroradio Ars Acustica Special Evening

17 January 2024 (20:10 – 20:30 UTC)
Output LISZT

Marko will present the piece LIVE from Radio Belgrade, Studio 6

The work “Rituals in Transfigured Time" is made of field recordings from across Yugoslavia, from pristine nature to intoxicated lands and waters, memorial sites, abandoned military compounds, factories and mines; analogue instruments, found sounds, radio appropriations; the cylinder archive of the National Library of Serbia, and voices long gone and forgotten.

11 Jan 2024

8. Izvedbena konferencija — PODRHTAVANJE



8. Izvedbena konferencijaPODRHTAVANJE — 14.1.2024. od 17 do 22 h \\\ Lea Vidaković: Podrhtavanja, Manja Ristić: Kronologija straha, Tina Hofman: Ananas is Always Ananas but Pineapple in English, Selma Banich: Glasovi / Voices.

Koncept i produkcija: Četveroruka / Fourhanded
U suradnji sa Zagrebačko kazalište mladih

MANJA RISTIĆ: Kronologija straha

Kronologija straha je ambijentalna audiovizualna instalacija koja se bavi nostalgijom ustrajavanja u anksioznim prostorima reduciranih ljudskih prava, stigme i diskriminacije, kao i društvene klaustrofobije amplificirane pandemijom i njezinim moralnim sunovratima. Rad se oslanja na zvučni palimpsest različitih realnosti; imaginarij satkan od zvukova koji su nastali prije, za vrijeme i nakon katastrofe. Ispituje osjećaje straha i nemoći kroz prizmu prepuštanja i preispitivanja — što smo imali, što nam je nasilno oduzeto, što smo zauvijek izgubili, u čemu je vrijednost onoga što smo dobili preživljavanjem agresivne životne promjene. Bilo da se radi o potresu, pandemiji, razvodu, bolesti, gubitku člana obitelji ili prijatelja.

Nasuprot apstraktnom zvučnom toku, rad u svoje “tijelo sjećanja” upisuje video izveden od fotografija podvodnog bioma, flore i faune zelenog pojasa nekadašnje željezne zavjese, kao alegorije duboke prirode koja na svoj način svladava traume prošlosti — sistematski “gutajući” samu sebe zarad konačnog iscjeljenja.

U prošlosti ozloglašena nepropusna granica okovana minskim poljima, bodljikavim ogradama i odredima smrti koji pucaju na sve što se miče, danas je zaštićena zelena zona. Na žalost, “nestajanje” ove granice tek je iluzija, jer ona se samo pomaknula, lijevo, desno ili u drugu sferu nekropolitika i društvene manipulacije,poput nepodnošljivog postkolonijalnog zadaha koji slobodu novog vijeka drži na distanci.

18 Dec 2023

Interview for SHAPE +

 




I had an honour and great pleasure to have correspondence with the amazing Lucia Udvardyova, here you can read the interview we delivered together for the SHAPE platform 23/24.

4 Dec 2023

Škvar by Manja Ristić & Mark Vernon

"Škvar" is a sound installation composed by Manja Ristić & Mark Vernon, as a part of the site-specific installation "Invoking shipbuilding in Korčula" created and realized by the visual artist Matea Šabić Sabljić aka Argonauta.

The installation was presented on the 6th and 7th of December, next to the Antifascist memorial by architect Bernardo Bernardi which was built at the exact place of an old shipyard.

Sound work is an extension of an art action: "Taking the tool in your hands is an act of honesty", which took place in September and engaged wider community. The participatory action involved people bringing hammers and nailing the names of old Korčula's shipbuilders into the planks of abandoned boats. Doing so produced the noise — sound of an old shipyard that was gone decades ago.

This public action became a silver lining of the sound work "Škvar".

Matea continued to collect hammers in Korčula, Dubrovnik, Split, Betina and Zagreb. Collected hammers will be installed as a site-specific installation accompanied by the sound work. Collecting hammers is continuing as a work in progress for the sake of "Invoking shipbuilding in Korčula" hoping to initiate a Museum which will protect both history and the future of local shipbuilding.

Exhibition is curated by Sonja Leboš (UIII / AIIR) and co-organised by Association KaP Korčula.


1 Dec 2023

Seasonal Diary IV: Shadowed Embrace

 



Composition More tuge / The Sea of Sorrow released on a seasonal compilation by objects & sounds collective from Ghent, Belgium. 

Read more about the work and the release!

Mastering by Mathieu Savenay
Artwork by Letterlik
Words (compilation) by Allie Hatch
Words (about the work More tuge / The Sea of Sorrow) by Manja Ristić

--

Port of Gruž. One of the most frequent wharves on the Adriatic, where fast sea lines constantly arrive and depart for all the islands and for all major cities of the southern and central Adriatic. And right next to it, lazily and with the great hubbub of ocean-going engines, monstrous cruisers, cities on the water, the biggest polluters on the planet, are anchored. On the other side of the bay, hundreds of yachts, sailboats, excursion boats, and even those that look like medieval galleys from fairy tales, swing on their heavily paid moorings which provides them with technical water and electricity, and washing of the decks with heavy chemical detergents; also allows them dropping of faeces as they please, or engine idling, if nothing else due to the air conditioning running, or to keep the oversized refrigerators and the generator-run stoves going. I wonder what kind of life is it without a private chef and numerous crew crammed into intermediate spaces with bunk beds and not even half a meter of passage? I tried to enter the anchorage area of the cruise ship to record the giant ship's engines with a hydrophone, but security chased me away. I tried to find a hole in the fence in that 2-kilometre-long dock, but I couldn't find it. A high and glowing, densely cast metal fence defends modern Dubrovnik better than a historical fortification. So I recorded in the local port, and the guys from the port authority who coordinate the catamarans were betting whether my hydrophone will fall apart from all those excrements, while I'm capturing the underwater daily dread of the devastated Gruž ecosystem. 
Fortunately, summer doesn't last forever.


More tuge / The Sea of Sorrow is a continuation of the work Kuda plovi ovaj brod? Where is this ship sailing? dealing with underwater sound pollution. The work is an unsettling sonic journey revealing the dystopian realm of Adriatic noise contamination, due to increased water traffic and the insatiable urge for the expansion of industry and tourism. The work consciously exposes a disturbing marine reality in which an inexhaustible amount of mechanical sources are literally grinding the underwater soundscape.

29 Nov 2023

Framework afield



<< listen >>

Framework Radio presents >>
Sound Postcards from the Centre of the Periphery —— radio adaptation.
by Manja Ristić & Mark Vernon

The artistic practice of both Manja and Mark has been deeply immersed in the sonic strata of space and the imaginary narratives that emerge from it. A dedication to the culture of memory, the sounding of lost voices and an unorthodox approach to re-composing the soundscape, conveniently unites these two experimenters in a collaboration that arises from research into one particularly inspiring locality – the island of Korčula.

In addition to their own field recordings, the artists were given access to the audio archives of the local radio station, including sounds of local folk customs, traditional songs, festivities and music. The strong anthropological emphasis in this collection of works is intended to encourage a deeper consideration of the coexistence of people and the environment in a historically dense climate. The appropriation of the hidden narratives of a small town on the fringes of the European Union opens up new fields of reflection on identity that looks back at the “centre of the periphery”, pointing to the importance of “small” spaces in the creation of European heritage.

23 Nov 2023

From island to island

ahead of a collaborative performance at the NEXT Advanced Music Festival in Bratislava, Manja Ristić & Anja Lauvdal are talking to Tatitana Heuman in an interview for 3/4.sk magazine.

"This year’s NEXT Festival in Bratislava will feature an exciting collaborative performance by experimental musicians Anja Lauvdal and Manja Ristić. Though separated by the landscape between Croatia and Norway, the two artists have developed an intimate musical dialogue through working remotely. Both Lauvdal and Ristić are mothers, which has shaped their careers as they have adapted to balancing family responsibilities with their artistic passions.
Inspired by the coastal landscapes that surround them, Lauvdal and Ristić exchange recordings, guiding one another into new realms of sonic possibilities. Ahead of their festival debut, the musicians share glimpses of the sounds that might emerge from their collaborative imagination, born out of their sharp improvisational practices and delicate observations of everyday life."

15 Nov 2023

Beyond Listening Symposium



Beyond Listening Symposium, by CENSE —— Central European Network for Sonic Ecologies
Location > MOME —— Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem, Budapest
November 22—25, 2023.

Participating with "Dobra voda", an audio—visual work produced in collaboration with Aleksandar Lazar.

Detailed program

3 Nov 2023

Hidden Adriatic

 


Hidden Adriatic is an immersive sonic exploration crafted by the collaborative process of artists Manja Ristić and Robertina Šebjanič. This project delves into the intricate tapestry of soundscapes within the Adriatic Sea and its interconnected rivers flowing into it.

Through this sonic journey, the artists investigate the fragility of our endangered environment due to anthropogenic presence. Their creative process is guided by profound intuitions, necessitating an extensive exploration of the site's trans-disciplinary history and rich biodiversity.

released November 3, 2023

Manja Ristić, Robertina Šebjanič · recording, composition, mixing, concept
La Plant Studio · mastering
Chris Watson, Manja Ristić · liner notes

⨯ recorded at the large region of the East Adriatic coast – from Dubrovnik to Koper, including the island of Korčula and the surrounding archipelago, the islands of Vis and Silba, the coastal industrial cities of Split, Zadar and Rijeka, as well as the river Neretva.

Tina Ivezić · graphic design
Maruša Hren · USB booklet, printing, bookmaking
Katja Kosi · proofreading
Luka Prinčič, Luka T. Zagoričnik · executive production

Financially supported by City of Ljubljana
Media support: Radio Študent

produced by EMANAT emanat.si
released by KAMIZDAT kamizdat.si

24 Oct 2023

Voyages




New release on DASA tapes
Limited Edition
Cassette + Digital Album

listen & pre-order cassette

the release is followed by one of the dearest poems that followed me throughout my life —— Places Stay, by Birgitte Lyregaard.

All sounds recorded, edited & composed by Manja Ristić.
Mastering La Plant Studio
Graphic Design by Marilia Kalantzi

Special thanks to Savvas Metaxas

For Mark.

18 Oct 2023

water whispers



19.10.2023 —— 23:03 on Ö1: Premiere of the radio play "water whispers" by Franziska Thurner, Abby Lee Tee and Manja Ristić on Ö1 Zeit-ton.

Curated by : Susanna Niedermayr

Immersed in the forest landscape of the Austrian——Czech borderlands, the trio co-existed with the almost tangible veil gently resonating between past and present, ancient nature and modern society, personal and collective histories. Exploring the ways of reconnecting with the regenerative nature’s intelligence they observed biomorphic layers coating wetlands and forests —— many tributaries of the river Schwarze Aist, lakes such as Stierhüblteich or Pohořský rybník and hidden quarries along the European watershed and former Iron Curtain. Making the village of Harrachstal their base, their creative flow gets caught in the whirl of John Tylo’s life legacy and his space for uncompromising art —— Garage Drushba.


Considerately intruding into the landscape intertwined with creeks and unfathomable forest slopes, they recorded beaver dams and lodges, the hydrogeomorphology of the various forest creeks, giant anthills, lake sediments, forest ambiance and insect choruses; they followed the trails of crayfishes, and talked to farmers being impressed by the (wetland restoration) skills of beavers. The extended field recording techniques and visual archive they made, revealed a dense spectrum of aquatic biophony.


The now invisible border along the former Iron Curtain is revealed only through different angles of colonial attitude towards nature exploitation. After all, nature is there to serve whichever bureaucracy is dominant at the time. But strangely enough, the landscape remembers, and is not particularly quiet about it —— it absorbs and transforms every human activity, from comparatively benign farming to ongoing pollution, overexploitation and wars.

Photo Credit: Franziska Thurner

musikprotokoll
SHAPE platform

7 Oct 2023

forest floodlights

 



musikprotocoll 2023 performance in Dom im Berg on 48 speakers Ambisonics system, Graz with Abby Lee Tee & Franziska Thurner, 

comissioned by ORF and SHAPE +

Radio Episode 1 curated by Susanna Niedermayr

Radio Episode 2 curated by Susanna Niedermayr

19 Sept 2023

for what they saw would hit them like a bolt

 



sound art series based on the poetry collection "Stories Untold"

this 21-minute long sound work is a forest tale about war, re-imagined from the perspective of the land that witnessed centuries of socio-cultural turmoil. tamed nature versus wilderness, contaminated versus protected land, the Iron Curtain belt saw some significant changes —— from being a brutal barrier between East and West strewn with mine fields, to becoming a highly protected European natural heritage.

the somewhat tense, suffocating and dark-sounding atmosphere of this piece reflects my feelings on possible relations between former and present conflicts, and alludes to the harsh consequences necro-politics of the past are imposing on contemporary society.

the stunning forest microbiome researched in this work is now part of the European Green Belt, formerly the Iron Curtain borderlands between Austria and Czech Republic.

released September 14, 2023

sounds gathered during SHAPE+ musikprotokoll residency, July 2023, kindly hosted by Kulturzentrum —— Garage Druzba, Harrachstal.

all sounds recorded, edited & composed by Manja Ristić
hydrophone built by Jez riley French
mastering La Plant Studio

Solidarity Fund · Hydro



In the wake of devastating floods that hit Slovenia in early August, many find themselves without homes and irreplaceable memories. With this project initiated and curated by Ida Hiršenfelder and Robertina Šebjanič, and produced in partnership with Kamizdat and participating artists we wish to lend a helping hand to these resilient people by curating an online audio compilation that features the generous contributions of artists who have donated their music to this cause. All financial contributions from the sale of the compilation will be sent to the flood relief fund of the Volunteer Fire Fighting Society, Črna na Koroškem. Our hearts go to those who depend on gestures of solidarity at the time of our planetary transformations.

released September 1, 2023

created by

AGF — beepblip (Ida Hiršenfelder) — Brandon LaBelle — Brane Zorman — Brgs — Bojana Šaljić P. — David Bilek — Dronišnica — Hugo Lioret — Irena Pivka — Kat Austen — Karmen Ponikvar — Kikiriki — Lena Ortega — Luka Prinčič — Manja Ristić — Mauricio Valdés San Emeterio — Miha Godec — mʊdʌki — OR poiesis — Robertina Šebjanič — Saša Spačal — Shekuza — Sujevera — Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec — Toni Dimitrov — Zergon.

Robertina Šebjanič, Ida Hiršenfelder: curators, graphic design
Luka Prinčič; mastering
Luka T. Zagoričnik, Luka Prinčič; executive production, promotion
City of Ljubljana: financial support
cat.no: KAM067
Produced by Emanat
Released by Kamizdat

1 Aug 2023

Framework afield




Featuturing > Eliane Radigue, PINKCOURTESYPHONE, Aleksandar Škorić, Verónica Cerrotta, Ned Milligan, Zhe Pechorin, 李劍鴻 Li Jianhong, 文智湧 Wen Zhiyong, 鄧博宇 Deng Boyu, and myself.

< Special thanks to Patrick Tubin McGinley >


> Support Framework Radio!

23 Jul 2023

Dobra voda – Manja Ristić & Aleksandar Lazar




26. jul – 06. avgust, 2023. godine
Galerija ULUS, Knez Mihajlova 37, Beograd
Radno vreme Galerije:
Ponedeljak – petak, od 12 do 19 časova
subota. od 10 do 14 časova
nedelja je neradna


Početkom godine Manja Ristić i Aleksandar Lazar počastvovani su Zlatnom nagradom za proširene medije Udruženja likovnih umetnika Srbije. Pod okriljem i uz svesrdnu podršku ULUS-a predstavljaju se novom postavkom pod nazivom "Dobra voda".


O izložbi


Duboko uronjeni u morfologiju Jadranskog bioma, Manja Ristić i Aleksandar Lazar istražuju sinestetičke refleksije Antropocena. Taktilnost zvuka i njegove formativne – energetske odlike kao i kimatička – oblikovna priroda, početno su stanovište sagledavanja sinergije prirode i savremene civilizacije. Sistematizovana umetnička praksa potkrepljena promišljanjem politike zvučnog pejzaža objektivizuje se u mediju audio-vizuelne instalacije – uz pomoć videa, grafičke partiture, tonoskopa, fotografije, zvučnog rada i teksta. Mnemotopija, mnemopoetika i mnemosoničnost prostora prikazuju se kroz 4 celine čiji narativi prikazuju obim i posledice devastacije podmorja, ali i otvaraju novo polje projektovanja budućnosti ukorenjeno u interdisciplinarnoj sintezi koja zadire u kulturu sećanja, geoantropologiju pejzaža, sistemsku ekologiju, fiziku i politiku vibracije, artivizam i fenomenološke studije.

20 Jul 2023

Dobra voda, act two

 


premiered at the Listening Biennial 2023 Belgrade, on July 20th, 2023 —— "Dobra voda, act two" is a continuation of exploring the sound material gathered at SEA Silba Environment Art residency (2021).

the compositional approach of act two moves the focus from holistic listening to the chosen locale toward the phenomenological positioning of oneself in relation to geomorphic bio-acoustics —— re-imagined as micro-environment was (consciously) listening back.

little is discussed about field recording practice being an intrusion into the landscape; also, not much attention is given to Nature's intelligence and its system-based intercommunication, which undeniably has means of perceiving our presence.

this work is deeply inspired by the constant movement of the sea.

released July 20, 2023

all sounds recorded, edited, and composed by Manja Ristić
hydrophone made by Jez riley French
mastering by La Plant Studio
supported by SEA Silba Environment Art

11 Jul 2023

15 Queastions interview Part II

 


the second part of the latest 15 Questions interview skillfully curated by Tobias Fischer. This conversation is focused on underwater noise pollution and its effects on marine life. A huge chunk of this conversation I am referring to the research paper THE IMPACT OF OCEAN NOISE POLLUTION
ON FISH AND INVERTEBRATES by Prof. Lindy Weilgart, Ph.D. from Oceancare & Dalhousie Univesity.

read the interview here

the conversation is also referring to my latest releases informed by the subject
> Kuda plovi ovaj brod? Where is this ship sailing?
> Štrada od Sigurate


1 Jul 2023

SHAPE + 23/24

 

𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐄+ 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

The European Union-funded SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and audiovisual art is announcing its 2023/2024 list of artists!
The artist selection places a number of audiovisual projects and sound artists alongside musical acts that range from club music and forward-thinking media art to experiments with traditional music, free improvisation, and spatial music. The second year of SHAPE+ will continue its focus on collaborative residencies and one-off performances simultaneously.

20 Jun 2023

Štrada od Sigurate

 


this release is a window recording of Dubrovnik, and here is the story behind it.

--

Štrada od Sigurate

There is a little window in the attic of a Dalmatian villa from the early middle ages overlooking the dreamy cascade landscape of downtown Dubrovnik.

It's early June, 8 am. A melody of old Mediterranean terracotta roofs plunging into each other is nursing a soft morning light. The polyphony of ages embedded in the stone makes the town glow from its neutron core. No corners are mislaid, and the fortress is keeping us safe.

The window is slightly recessed, almost on the corner with Stradun, and a person with fine jumping skills could easily reach the roof of the church across the narrow street. It's Sunday, and the bells from the various towers across town are spilling their gongs.

I needed to sleep a bit more. But the grinding machinery of tourism has its own agenda. Savagely squeaking swallows and the morning congregations of seagulls sound like a pastorale compared to the town’s growling bowels. Air conditioning units, pumps, kitchen ventilation, garbage trucks, delivery vehicles, wheels, and trolleys of all sorts. I could not help but be fascinated by how a landscape of such beaming beauty can exist in this hideous soundscape.

In all of its ugliness, the soundscape of Dubrovnik still hides so much contemporaneity. The large ventilation unit drones are textural and multiphonic. Anarchy in the town’s electrical grid is constantly buzzing from nooks and crevices like some robo-brute. Sounds of the wagons for garbage collection, and the rivers of inbound and outbound suitcases are bouncing over the stone streets like a constant percussive development. I enjoyed it a lot.

But perhaps we should give it a second thought. The noise in which certain Mediterranean architectural marvels are soaked due to uncontrolled mass tourism is a “silent” killer. Of the environment, and of the local culture and dignity.

I stepped out of the building that morning, and straight in front of my nose on the neighbour’s door, there was a sign:

PLEASE KEEP SILENT.

--
released June 18, 2023
all rights reserved

9 Jun 2023

two mixtapes




1. Premiered at Trans Balkan Express Radio Festival, curated by Žarko Komar aka Feloneezy, as a part of the Mediterranean Futures series on @movement_athens

Field recording gestures and in-situ interventions are gently placed into immersive ambient & drone explorations, while the musical narrative develops around extensive hydrophone recording of the terrigenous sediments and various aquascapes of the Adriatic’s littoral zones. Some of the locations where recordings were taken are the island of Korčula and its surrounding archipelago (islands of Badija & Vrnik), the island of Silba, Neretva River, Dubrovnik old town, and the island of Vis.

2. Premiered at ZEZ Festival 2023

The mixtape includes excerpts from the releases:
water memory – mnemosonic topographies of the Adriatic
Kuda plovi ovaj brod? Where is this ship sailing?
Awakenings LINE_138
and more...

All sounds recorded, edited, and composed by Manja Ristić
Contributing artist Mark Vernon
Artwork by Manja Ristić – a tactile score for found instrument Experiment IV-II, Remixed excerpt from the gravure print no. 3 / 5
Mastering La Plant Studio

license

7 Jun 2023

15 Questions

 



I had the privilege to be interviewed by Tobias Fischer for 15 Questions, this time more specific talk on sound & listening, my practice & experiences, particularities & interests.

Read the interview here

16 May 2023

tailless tarantella lifted its head

 



this collection is embodied by the poem: tailless tarantella lifted its head, and it is followed by the collection of black & white photographs taken on the island of Korčula.

--

it was the day when the balloon disappeared into the wall
it was the day when the dog bit you while you were helpless
tailless tarantella lifted its head
toward the crackling chorus
of pine cones blooming

tags, tags, hundreds of tags
and desire to observe cracks
it was the day when the wisdom leaked
it was the day when witches fell sick
again, when wonders went pale
lingering away
in aimless whiteness

I didn’t become anyone great

--  

released May 15, 2023

part of the series Stories Untold
sound, text & images by Manja Ristić
cover art by Manja Ristić
mastering by La Plant Studio
produced by ELL Studio 2023

9 Apr 2023

Awakenings

 


>>> LINE_138

'Awakenings' is the first album on LINE by violinist, sound artist, poet, curator, and researcher, Manja Ristić. Her work incorporates extensive field recordings, acoustic instruments, and unexpected found objects. 

RIYL: Chris Watson, Félicia Atkinson, Norman W. Long, Simon Whetham and Tomoko Hojo & Rahel Kraft.

awakenings are my ears underwater.
awakenings are sand, pebbles, and rocks pushed by the waves in constant motion.
awakenings emerge from the dissipating whirls.
awakenings are language so mellifluous it out-voices the sizzling currents.
awakenings listen to the space through other spaces.
awakenings are reversed feedbacks of coiled thoughts.
awakenings are worlds of ruthless and bewitched nature.
awakenings are endless topographies surrounded by a body of water in constant motion.
awakenings are where you will find me, talking to the sniffing rocks, growling waves, sleeping vineyard crickets, and plucking trapped air from broken and abandoned instruments.
awakenings are infinity squeezed between atoms.
awakenings are the mind’s nocturnal quirks.
awakenings are silent intrusions into the landscape.
the spherical geometry of the awakenings moves awkwardly, like a transparent velum woven of thin and uneven fabric, coating the fidelity of the bluff recollections.
awakenings are the legacy of withstanding.


TRACKLIST:

1. soft shell (03:05)
2. on the outskirts of time (03:50)
3. dissipating whirls (05:12)
4. within the cave, dreams (04:14)
5. I’m plucking trapped air (07:41)
6. thin and uneven (04:50)
7. in bluff recollections (04:50)
8. coiled thoughts (02:40)

recording locations: Korčula town, abandoned ex-Yugoslav military compound on the island of Korčula, ancient quarry on the island of Vrnik, the village of Račišće, Lumbarda ancient aquatorium, sound pollution of the water traffic in the Pelješac-peninsula channel, Ražnjić lighthouse; a musical playground in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. instruments used: JrF hydrophone & contact mic; violin, various abandoned pianos, toy synth found in the garbage, various objects.

all sounds recorded, edited, and composed by Manja Ristić
contributing artists on track 8: Mark Vernon, Ivana Grahovac
cover art: Manja Ristić / Richard Chartier
mastering: La Plant Studio, Belgrade