radio Astral ~ 22 hour-long broadcast for Radio Art Zone

June 19th from 14:00 CEST until 12:00 noon on Monday, June 20th

Radio Art Zone is a project by Radio ARA & Mobile_Radio as part of Esch2022

Follow and listen >>> https://radioart.zone/

Broadcast via FM, DAB+ and webstream

Manja Ristić is introducing a 22 hour-long radio piece composed of 108 tracks ~ Radio Astral is a flow of imaginative narratives derived from drone and ambient experiments, personal field recording archives, improvisational gestures and sequences on both conventional and unconventional instruments, as well as decompositions of random media archives.

read more >>>

radio-omnibus "the concrescence"

 

the concrescence is a radio-omnibus that explores possible sound embodiments of automatic memory layering experienced in lucid dreaming and self-hypnosis.

compositional structure is driven by quasi-cinematic imaginary emerging from choreographies of listening deeply embedded in mnemosonic constructs – a self-generative textures of sound derived from spatial memory imprints – in this particular case I am also referring to a field recording practice that involves site-specific intervention or a choreographic improvisation.

the first piece is a triptych. it follows the abstract narrative of contrasting spaces, from the enchanted forest of the Ugljenica Bay on the island of Silba and gravel crumbling under the weight of the sea waves to the Mercurial electromagnetic noises (resampled NASA sounds) and the noises of the electrical grid of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. the journey ends in Rokova 13, in Split, on the window overlooking the narrow street just off the Diocletian Palace.

window field recording from Rokova 13 is a juxtaposition of Luc Ferrari's infamous "Presque rien no. 1, le lever du jour au bord de la mer" (1970).

the second piece is a moody dwelling built around the sonic abundance of the island of Silba. fast shifting of the sonic sceneries imposes a prolonged psychological "accelerando", a memory flow placed in the curvature of a time-lapse and its shortened geometries. the provoked imaginarium is gradually becoming condensed and saturated, systematically transcending a subconscious discharge gently placed to stimulate the state of a multimodal dream processing.

concrescence I – originally commissioned by Cashmere Radio in the frame of MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues, Berlin 2022.
concrescence II – originally commissioned by SEA Silba Environment Art, 2021/22.

released April 25, 2022

mastering LaPlant Studio, Belgrade
laplantstudio.com

Dystopian 001

 

'Dystopian 001' is a split release between the sound artists Manja Ristić and Toni Dimitrov, and it is part of the new 'Dystopian series', showcasing a more abstract, darker, obscure and politically infused side of the sound of élan vital artist roster. Inspired by everyday life in the last several years living in realized dystopian visions and darkest predictions, the sound on this series will be the soundtrack for our daily dystopian reality. We are all aware that the future of our civilization is not bright, but that doesn't mean we are not living in an exciting epoch.

Released March 27, 2022
CD + digital, paper envelope cover with hand-stamped and numbered inlay 

Limited edition
2022 élan vital recordings
Composed and arranged by Manja Ristić & Toni Dimitrov
Mastering LaPlant Studio Belgrade
Cover drawings by Dorian Dimitrov
Design by Toni Dimitrov

The work 'Nothing Has To Happen, Fortress Europe' was originally commissioned by Radiophrenia 2022

Framework afield : Manja Ristić

Featuring: Abby Lee Tee, Rastko Lazić, The Howlite Dunja Crnjanski, Rush Falknor, Liz Helman, Mark Vernon, Katharina Schmidt & Fahmi Mursyid, Jacqueline George, Tomáš Šenkyřík, Internazionale, and including loads of my own unpublished material lately deeply submerged into investigating various sound sources of the Solar System. Full playlist on FRAMEWORK RADIO

Dreams

 

The track was produced as a stress-reduction tool.

You can build a loop cycle according to your own sensibilities.
Low or moderate listening volume recommended.

released February 25, 2022

composed by Manja Ristić

mastering LaPlant Studio Belgrade
laplantstudio.com

The Rings of Water

CD, 8-panel booklet, liner notes.

Two contrasting pieces explore the age-old human quest to comprehend the transformative powers of life. The overlapping disciplines of anthropology, philosophy, the culture of memory, cognitive psychology, and environmental studies, are conceptually layered to extend the idea of
formative traits of sound and to deepen the notion of listening to historically dense spaces.

Official release March 28, 2022, published by Flag Day Recordings

All sounds recorded, performed & composed by Manja Ristić
Cover art by Simonida Rajčević, from the series Strange Waves, 2016

Hydrophone & contact mics used for recordings made by Jez riley French
Layout by Shea Hardacre Designs
Mastering by Guillermo Pizarro

The Return Of Medea

 

The Return Of Medea is a sonic diary, poetic rant, biopolitical scream.

Radio Art Zone

 

Radio Art Zone is a 100-day radio art station for Esch2022, which will be broadcast in the south of Luxembourg by Radio ARA on 87.8 FM. It will also be live-streamed for a worldwide audience and transmitted by a network of international partners.

The Radio Art Zone schedule consists of two daily programmes: newly-commissioned 22-hour radio productions created by more than 100 international and local artists, and 2-hour live shows from kitchens in the community.

Desiderium Animae

I dedicate Desiderium Animae in loving memory of a dear friend and mentor Nataša Jovanović, professor of violoncello and chamber music from Belgrade, who left us too soon.

On October 31st I accidentally discovered Tunnel Grič in central Zagreb. It is 1 kilometer long WWII air-raid shelter, now a pedestrian tunnel recently reopened for the public after being sealed for decades.

This is the integral field recording of my first encounter with the tunnel and its incredible acoustics, interacting with passers-by, examining its sonic properties, feeling its dense memory field, while walking up and down and holding the recorder in my hand.

The recording is later enriched by minimal ambient interventions.

Released November 14, 2021

Radio drama: Eskulap - anatomska eks mašina

Radio drama Eskulap – anatomska eks mašina nastala je prema satiričnom rimovanom epu, napisanom u aprilu 2020. godine, za vreme policijskog časa u Srbiji. Ima uporište u realnim događajima vezanim za pandemiju, ali je i fantazmagorični prikaz sveopšte situacije na prostoru Balkana.

Najveći deo radnje je hermetičan, odnosno smešten na srednjovekovni dvor i u dvorsku kosturnicu u doba pandemije, a obuhvata period od 13. veka, do dana današnjeg. Realni likovi, kojima je tekst inspirisan, pretočeni su u nekakve dvorske arhetipove kao što su: lekar, car, sveštenik, dvorska dama, dvorska luda, ministar vojni, lakej, kovač, pustolov zatočen u buretu i šišmiš. Ovih deset upečatljivih likova interpretira dvoje glumaca koristeći širok opseg glasovnih tehnika, podržan eksperimentalnom kompozicijom utemeljenoj u atmosferskim fragmentima terenskog zvuka, improvizacionim sekvencama i droničnoj dramaturgiji, kao i u bogatoj arhivi music concrete intervencija snimljenih specijalno za ovu priliku.

Radio drama donosi izuzetno jaku humornu notu, elemente horora, ali svakako, kao i svaka satira, na kraju ipak ostavlja gorak ukus realnosti.

Tekst i koncept: Mila Manojlović
Izvedba: Mila Manojlović, Nesim Hrvanović
Kompozicija i dizajn zvuka: Manja Ristić
Snimatelji zvuka: Igor Bulović, Igor Lončar (Studio Wave)
Mastering: La Plant Studio
Ko-produkcija: Sonja Leboš
Naslovna ilustracija: Marko Banićević
Produkcija: Studio ELL Korčula, 2021

Realizacija je podržana od strane Ministarstva kulture Republike Hrvatske

media >>> Slobodna Dalmacija, Radio Korčula, Abraš Radio

Lost In Renaissance

Mixtape composed out of the material performed at the Lost In Renaissance Festival, Korčula island - August 2021.

Closing track credits: kLIMEK & Marta Collica & Manja Ristić “Don’t Kill The Animals”, from the soundtrack to the 2011 WDR3 radio feature “MESSERSCHLEIFEN”.

Melantonia Live Series

 

very pleased and honored to be published in the Berlin-based Melantónia Live Series, with an hour-long sonic journey including some of my favorite memories translated into sound, but also highlighting an important event - the TV appearance of my dearest friend, activist Radomir Lazovic confronting corrupted media as well as a government representative who was involved in a criminal act of threatening and beating elderly citizens in Serbia for refusing to accept food stamps and similar bribe in exchange for their votes. such acts of courage and Radomir's sincere everyday activism directed toward building a better society is a great inspiration and the place of strength from which we are positioning ourselves as responsible and proactive individuals in confronting corruptive mechanisms deeply embedded in the state structures. the clip of the TV debate starts on the 24th minute of the composition.

Graditeljice Maestrala / The Shipbuilders of the Mistral

The Shipbuilders of the Mistral is a collaborative project conceptualized and written by Dijana Protić, further developed into VR installation by Marta Stražičić, visuals, and Manja Ristić, sound. 

For the past three years, the emphasis of interdisciplinary research around the industrial heritage of the island of Korčula has been placed on the important case study - the Greben shipyard in Vela Luka. Dijana Protić's artistic research began in 2017 with a focus on women's perspectives and work experience in Greben, and the backbone of the research was set by the stories of women former Greben workers. Although the initial idea was to turn the research into a film, the medium of the VR installation soon proved to be an important new element for deepening the theme and possible interpretation of the shipyard's "silenced" female history. 

 A female voice in local dialect guides us through the exploration of the abstracted space of Greben. Her memory intertwines personal and professional stories of former female workers in Greben, with a special emphasis on work in the so-called plastics, a key area in which women were mostly employed. The project raises awareness of the extremely health-vulnerable and unprotected position that women were in. At the same time, we learn about the micro experiences of emancipation and financial independence that women gained while working in Greben. In addition, it alludes to the relevance of the women's collective, both in joint women's work and the interpersonal support that such a community creates. (Lea Vene) 

initial presentation GMK Zagreb

video teaser >>> here <<<

Author: Dijana Protić 

Curator: Lea Vene 

Art director, modeler and VR technician: Marta Stražičić 

Sound & composition: Manja Ristić 

Narration voice: Marija Borovičkić 

Design: Andrija Mudnić 

Sound mastering: La Plant Studio, Belgrade

Project supported by: The City of Zagreb, Ministry of Culture Republic of Croatia,
Dubrovačko-neretvanska County

Production: GMK Zagreb, gray) (area, Format C & Sintoment

The Desire of My Heart

 

THE DESIRE OF MY HEART - conceptualized for RADIA FM Network which involves broadcasts on over 40 radio stations globally, and published on SIRR.ECORDS from Portugal.

The Desire of My Heart is a collection of intimate interventions extracted from my daily life and observations of my immediate environment from the perspective of transcendental attuning. On the trace of early 20th century esoteric practices of automatic painting and writing, I build a meta-narrative in three stages, using field recordings, sonification, and improvisation on amplified objects, as well as exploring and manipulating basic frequencies from electrical fields.

Instruments used –
thick jar with the ice cubes
broken radio receiver inside the thick jar with the ice cubes
home fan
radio receiver tuning to an FM scale (excerpts from HRT3 programme about WWII)
wheelchair wheel salvaged from shallow waters in the Adriatic played with wooden sea debris, an electrical coffee mixer, a soft xylophone stick, and a pine cone
radio receiver placed on the wheelchair wheel
cardboard tube rubbed against a window
refrigerator
kitchen sink
stones rubbed with the soft xylophone stick
baby megaphone toy

field recordings –
Poreč marina, ventilation behind the restaurant in the park (June 2021)
hydrophone and field recorder buried in the stranded sediments of a dry Posidonia Oceanica algae, Good Waters bay, Silba Island (July 2021)
St. Marco’s Cathedral church bells, Korcula town (December 2020)
instrumental excerpt from the Depression for the Bass Clarinet graphic score, interpretation Vasa Vuckovic (April 2018)

All sounds were gathered, played, and edited by Manja Ristić
contact mic & hydrophone built by Jez riley French
Mastering La Plant Studio Mixing and Mastering Belgrade

Songs of the North

The largest sonic body of this collection belongs to the island of Silba, to its wilderness and uniqueness. It is a continuation of the Silba Sound Map I started in 2019, initiated by SEA Silba Environment Art.
www.silba-environment-art.hr

Other than the magic of Silba, on my way there I recorded the Neretva river in Mostar, letting hydrophone into the strong whirls under the Bunur bridge while participating in the project Toxic Lands curated by Armina Pilav.

I also picked some noises from catamaran Biševo, and a ferry boat cutting the horizon on the route Split – Vela Luka. The sea organ in Zadar, and some sailboat masts singing in the wind in Poreč marina too.

released July 30, 2021

All sounds and images by Manja Ristic
JrF hydrophone and contact mic
Mastering La Plant Studio Belgrade
Supported by SEA Silba Environment Art

That which eyes cannot see: Symbolism in conceptual listening

 

20 Seconds Magazine ISSUE 3 came out on July 5th, 2021, with contributions by Abdullah Miniawy, Aldo Tambellini, Alma Đelić, Atelier Impopulaire, Authored Landscapes, Cedrik Fermont, Khyam Allami, Manja Ristić, Vasilis Botoulas, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Temps Zero.

my essay ~ That which eyes cannot see: Symbolism in conceptual listening ~ puts the postures of listening in an anthropological evolutionary context, and in relation to symbolism and the notion of collective memory. the essay is embodied by collaborative series of sounds for drawings "Searching for the Cohenian Crack", which I am developing with Vasilis Botoulas.
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152 pages, Perfect bound, Softcover