June 30th, 18:00 – Estonian National Museum

For the 4th Helikoosolek, I conducted a soundwalk through Tartu. The soundwalk was designed to highlight different sounding environments of this city. The idea of a soundwalk is primarily to simply listen and understand our surroundings from the perspective of our ears. By listening we shift our attention away from the visual world and question the ways in which we orientate ourselves. It is also an exercise in attention, to be reminded of the way we hear and select the sounds that are important for us as opposed to what we tune out.

The soundwalk participants stayed together as a group. The group was organized in such a way that the participants worked in pairs. One person was blindfolded while the other person acted as a guide. It is the responsibility of the guide to allow the blindfolded person to listen carefully and navigate through space with their ears and yet protect their partner from any potential dangers. Communication between the guide and the blind person should kept to a minimum to orient the attention to the surrounding environment and what is taking place there.

The soundwalk began at ERM at 18:00 and lasted approximately 1 hour. After 30 minutes the roles of the partners switched. So the one who was blind then became the guide. This gave each person the experience of being “blind” and being a guide. Both roles are equally important. The walk ended at ERM where we had a short follow up discussion sharing experiences.

For such an event, wear comfortable shoes and appropriate outdoor clothing. Anyone who did not feel comfortable being blindfolded was also free to join the walk.

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Eesti Rahva Muuseumi näitusemajas (Kuperjanovi 9)

Kolmapäeval, 30 juunil kell 18.00

MOKS esitleb – Helikoosolek: Tartu, vol 4

Kolmapäeval, 30. juunil viib helikunstnik John Grzinich Helikoosolekul osalejad helikõnnile läbi Tartu linna. Jalutuskäigu eesmärgiks on tuua esile Tartu linna erinevaid helikeskkondi. Helikõnni juhtmõtteks on panna tähele ja mõista ümbritsevat kuulmismeele kaudu. Helikõnd seab kahtluse alla tavapärase arusaama ruumis orienteerumisest. See on ka tähelepanuharjutus, millega uurida seda, kuidas me kuulame, valime ja teadvustame enda jaoks olulisi / ebaolulisi helisid.

Helikõnd toimub grupitööna. Grupp korraldatakse selliselt, et osalejad liiguvad paarides. Ühel paarilisest on silmad kinni seotud ning teine on talle juhiks. Juhi ülesandeks on võimaldada kinni seotud silmadega inimesel keskenduda ümbruse kuulamisele ning kuulmismeele järgi ruumis liikumisele, see tähendab ka kaaslase kaitsmist võimalike ohtude eest.

Helikõnd algab ERMi juurest kell 18.00 ning kestab umbes tund aega. Pärast 30 minutilist jalutuskäiku vahetavad paarilised osad, nii et juhitavast saab juht. See annab mõlemale paarilisele võimaluse olla nii ‘pime’ kui juht, kuna mõlemad osad on võrdselt tähtsad. Jalutuskäigu lõppedes kogunetakse Eesti Rahva Muuseumi näitusemajja, et vahetada kogemusi ja nende üle arutleda.

Osalejatel palume panna jalga mugavad jalanõud ja ilmale vastav riietus. Kes end kinniste silmadega seotult ebamugavalt tunneb, võib lihtsalt helikõnniga liituda. Meeles tuleb pidada siiski peamist reeglit: lubada juhitavatel segamatult tajuda maailma kuulmise kaudu. Tugeva vihmasaju ja halva ilma korral toimub ERMi näitusemajas Helikoosoleku alternatiivprogramm.

Eestis elav Ameerikast pärit helikunstnik John Grzinich töötab Põlvamaal MoKS Kunsti ja Sotsiaalpraktika Keskuses. Ta on tegelenud heliuuringutega üle 15 aasta ning töötab praegu Eesti helimaastike analüüsimise ning tutvustamisega.

Helikoosolek on regulaarselt toimuv kohtumine inimestele, keda huvitab heli meie ümber kõigis oma väljendustes. Kohtumiste raames leiavad aset jutuajamised, esitlused, kontserdid, töötoad, arutelud ning väljasõidud. Kõigi nende tegevuste eesmärgiks on uurida heli esinemist ning kasutusvõimalusi kõikvõimalikes kontekstides: kunstis, muusikas, arhitektuuris, ökoloogias, filosoofias, sotsiaalses ja kultuurilises vastasmõjus jms. Ka osalejatel endil on võimalus pakkuda välja tegevusi või arutlus-teemasid vastavalt oma huvidele või tegevustele. Helikoosoleku kohtumisõhtud toimuvad iga kuu viimasel kolmapäeval kell 18-20.

Helikoosolekute sari saab teoks tänu Tartu Linnavalitsusele, Eesti Kultuurkapitalile ja Eesti Rahva Muuseumile

project proposal for Eesti Rahva Muuseum

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Presentation at Eesti Rahva Muuseum, November 26th 2009

Soundscapes of Estonia is a research project and proposal for the Estonian National Museum as a non-local real-time sound environment. The term soundscape can be defined as the totality of sounds one may hear at any given location. The project attempts to illustrate and help us understand the significance of soundscapes in relation to national heritage as aspects of both ecological and cultural spheres. The event will begin with a talk on sound, human perception and the notion of soundscape as it relates to natural and man-made environments along with an introduction to the project idea. The second part will be a soundscape listening concert composed of archive recordings made by John Grzinich in Estonia and live sound sources transmitted via the internet.

Project Proposal

This project proposal can be considered for a temporary exhibition or as a frame for a permanent exhibition in the future national museum as a non-local, real-time, interactive space.

Purpose: “Soundscapes of Estonia” is a multi-purpose platform for scientific research, artistic intervention and interactive public interface for sound as a primary human perceptual medium particularly as is relates to an understanding of the environment and our relation to it. It turns the question of “What does a country sound like?” into a perceptual process.

We begin with the notion of ‘soundscape’ as an integral component for connecting human sound perception to a greater awareness of our overall natural and man-made landscapes. Any soundscape is the totality of sounds one may hear at any given location (as a phenomenon of our perception of acoustic sounds). Soundscapes can be nearly silent or very polluted with noise depending on the activity of the area. No soundscape is “pure” and is a combination of many sources from natural to industrial that change continually from moment to moment and throughout the year in different seasons. With various technical means to capture the soundscape, sounds can be either isolated, filtered out or left as a whole. With a proper technical setup, users can be exposed to the various elements of our complex non-local soundscapes, and be given the possibility to isolate, filter and mix each location or recombine them to for new fictional environments.

Interface: The platform would encourage public involvement through 2 means; an online ‘virtual’ platform and a physical space in the museum. Both interfaces would involve establishing an infrastructure for recording and transmitting sound signals from a variety of locations or ‘soundscape environments’ around Estonia. The aim is to capture different soundscapes and relay the sources to a central point for the public to experience. Each interface would allow the users to mix the channels transmitted from the source locations to either isolate a particular environment or combine them to form a type of acoustic composition.

The signals could be transmitted live via internet streams to a central server where they could be distributed for public use. Both the online platform and physical exhibition space would function as a mixer (much like a sound mixer/heli mikser) where the sound sources can be combined. The exhibition would require a low light quiet room isolated from other sounds with a set of speakers and a mixing table of volume controlled knobs or sliders with descriptions of the sound sources (if a special room cannot be used then users can wear headphones). An online version could function in a similar way, with a mixer that outputs the sound through a users home computer. Other devices such as gps enabled mobile phones can be integrated as the technology develops (some prototypes are in development).

Soundscape environments (examples of 10 possible locations):

1. Urban (public park or square)
2. Urban (high density traffic zone)
3. Rural inhabited (small village, farm)
4.  Rural Natural (National forest/park)
5. Rural Natural (seaside, lakeside)
6. Aquatic life (underwater sea/lake)
7. Ambient interior (public foyer of the Museum)
8. Kinetic and sculptural (object interacting with natural elements of wind or water such as bridges, old telephone wires or artistic structures)
9. User contributed (via internet website or sound map)
10. Estonian historical media archive (selected museum or radio archive clips)

(anywhere from 5-10 channels can be used depending on the technological capability)

Sound research: Since the soundscape is as active, dynamic and ever-changing as any other aspect of the environment, it offers great potential for research, both scientific and artistic. Researchers such as Fred Jüssi have been studying sounds of animal behavior and messaging for decades, and have built up a significant level of information on sound and the environment as well as a database of recordings. This has had an impact on the fields Biology and Semiotics (see biosemiotics) as well as for artists and the growing general public attitudes towards sound and listening. Therefore the Eesti Helimaastikud project could also serve as a metaphor for mixing interests of these different fields and the public sector by bringing them together on  common experiential level.

kevad/spring 2009

Suur aitäh ERM, http://www.erm.ee/
Thanks to Locus Sonus and MOKS for technical support.

a workshop and performance event

Participants: John Grzinich, Siim Angerpikk, Toomas Thetloff, Evelyn Müürsepp, Anna Hints, Merili Sulg, Liina Lepik, Sveta Bogomolova, Mari Jõgiste, Maarja-Liisa Plats

Workshop Dates: Sun-Wed 13.1.08 – 17.1.08

17.1 public performance – Eesti Rahva Museeum (Estonian National Museum)

In asking the question, “What is the sound of 21st century folk music?”, we are positioning ourselves in both a theoretical and real state. The question looks much more at the broad purpose of music in terms of how it defines the social relations and meanings by those who practice it.

We wish to start from the beginning, to ask; what is music? who are the “folk”? what forms of expression are they capable of? what instruments do they need to construct? how do they construct them? how can they play their instruments? for who do they play for? what influences from everyday life influences this music? what forms of expression result from people from different backgrounds?

The aim of this project is not necessarily find an answer or solution to these questions, but to explore ideas in an open and encouraging manner, to allow any numbers of possible outcomes, most importantly the interests of the expressions of those who participate.

Workshop: The workshop focused on several structures sessions of individual and group activity and interaction. We began by familiarizing ourselves with the aims and intentions of each participant through discussion on the primary topics of the project. This was also combined with some practical ‘hands-on’ experience of designing and constructing simple instruments or even sounding objects if you will. As the character of the instruments and their makers develops we will attempt to look at our abilities to play our creations and see if we consider it music or not. Finally we developed a performative work with our own structure, style and form to present to the public.

Sounds:

Excerpt of improvisation session (3:09) Estonia, January 2008: Download Link

Final Performance, abreviated (32:00) Estonia, January 2008: Download Link

Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Circling rounds

Click here to view the embedded video.

final performance at Eesti Rahva Muuseum

Photos:

Sponsors:

Eesti Rahva Muuseum, P.O.T.T., MoKS