Kozmic sounds
Magdaléna Manderlová and Michal Kindernay
Collaborative project commissioned and curated by Bludný kámen
2021-ongoing
A long term project investigating and archiving the changing sonic environments of the Opava region, the Czech Republic. Apart from the artistic work, we established an interdisciplinary working group consisting of local experts from the fields of ecology, history, sociology and poetry.
We produced two exhibitions for Bludny Kamen’s Galerie Cella, Opava, in 2021-22. The first exhibition (20.10-19.12.2021) investigated the Opavice river with which Kindernay & I engaged by walking—from its spring to its confluence, over 100 km in total. Opavice is a piece I composed for this exhibition and is based on spending time and walking along the river.
In 2022, we were researching the wetland Kozmické louky—Kozmic meadows* situated in the river Opavice’s ecosystem. The final exhibition (23.08-15.10.2022) took the shape of a multichannel sound installation for 25 prepared speaker membranes. The soundscape wove together a dynamic archive of recordings connected to the river and the reserve.
As part of the exhibition, we published a book Po proudu zvuku—Along the stream of sound. It gathers texts by Kindernay & myself, Martin Klimeš, Jiří Siostrzonek and Martin Šenkypl.
We founded a platform Zvuky Opavy - an online sound archive open for anyone to contribute to.
Kozmic sounds had a 22-hour satellite radio broadcast at Radio Art Zone 22-23.09.2022, as part of the European Capital of Culture Esch2022, Luxembourg.
I presented the project at Beyond Listening: Agency, Art and the Environment, International Symposium on Sonic Ecologies at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest in November 2023. An extended version of the paper will be published in Journal of Sonic Studies in 2024/25.
The project continues as a yearly symposium, view details here.
Credits
Photographs: Jakub Kožial (both exhibitions); courtesy of the artist (field photographs)
The project was supported by Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Magistrát města Opavy, Norwegian Visual Artists Fund, Trondheim kommune, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, and Radio Art Zone through 2021-22.
* Kozmické louky—Kozmic meadows are a system of floodplain meadows and a bird reserve. The area was formerly intended for gravel mining and experienced difficult times of amelioration, water drainage, aggressive terrain destructions, and extraction of resources which caused disruption of the natural balance, loss of biodiversity, and environmental burden. Kozmic meadows are now, thanks to the long-term commitment and dedicated work and care of the local community and the company Semix, full of life, and accommodate hundreds of species of birds and plants, amphibians, Exmoor ponies, and an ornithological observation station. It is an important resting area for migratory birds.