20—23 JUNE 2023 TIMIȘOARA, Bega Canal
The 4th edition of SONIC NARRATIVES invites you to discover the sounds of the city and nature hidden by the illusory sufficiency of the image. An invitation to active and dedicated listening as a practice of sensitive reading of the urban “braiding” of sonic territories: vegetation, natural and built mineral, human and non-human sounds, all voices and manifestations of life.
Through their sound works, the invited artists propose listening situations and dialogue around the diversity of natural and human sounds in various forms: augmented sound walk with Stephane Marin (FR), sound performance with field recordings and musical valences with Manja Ristić (SBR/HR), Felicity Mangan (AU), Patrick Tubin McGinley (US) or Mark Vernon (UK), installation listening devices with Stephane Marin, Ana Teodora Popa (RO), Anamaria Pravicencu (RO) in collaboration with Daniela Rațiu (RO) and Manja Ristić, a performative intervention with Edka Jarzab (PL), auditions and presentations of the radio and sound art platforms framework radio and Radiophrenia in Glasgow, and an initiation workshop in sound art and field recording with Ana Teodora Popa.
Since the first edition, SONIC NARRATIVES has designated a favourite space: the Bega Canal. With a complex physical dimension that requires permanent reconsideration in both urban planning and commercial use, the Bega Canal is above all a space whose life and vitality contribute greatly to the ecological balance of the city. Industrial water pollution, aggressive concreting of the banks and motorized navigation as practiced today constantly degrade the ecosystem of the Bega Canal, gradually reducing a living body to a “wet strip”.
The banks of the canal and surrounding areas, one of the abandoned swimming pools and the Central Park are the physical venues for the meeting with the invited artists and their sound works, as well as a cruise to the edge of the city with the Pelican boat, with stationary performances powered by renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions.
An invitation to calm, active listening, and sonic imagination.
Anamaria Pravicencu, curator
ARTISTS –
framework radio (US), Edka Jarząb (PL), Felicity Mangan (AU), Stéphane Marin (FR), Anamaria Pravicencu (RO), Ana Teodora Popa (RO, Radiophrenia (UK), Daniela Rațiu (RO), Manja Ristić (SBR/HR), Sandra & DJ Shuffle (RO), Patrick Tubin McGinley (aka murmer) (US/EE), Mark Vernon (UK).
SONIC NARRATIVES is a physical and imaginary path, which aims to raise awareness of the urban space, lived, explored and (re)discovered, the ecologic, emotional, acoustic, sensory and social dimensions of the city. The physical route, which starts from the city center, on the banks of the Bega canal to the outskirts, crosses an urban landscape with a diverse historical load and induces us in a series of sound and visual incursions through artistic interventions and installations.
The project is part of the national cultural programme “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is funded through the Legacy Timișoara 2023 programme, implemented by the Center for Projects Timișoara, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.
Partners –
SEMI SILENT, HEI – House of European Institutes, Institut Français, Ecluze pe Bega, Cărturești, Under the Bridge
Media partners –
Radio Guerrilla, Observator Cultural, Igloo, Revista-Arta, Propagarta, Capital Cultural, IQads, 4arte.ro, BookHub, Familia, Zile și Nopți