Manja Ristić

Sonična ontologija malomarnosti

Sonic Ontology of Negligence





Manja Ristić

Sonična ontologija

malomarnosti

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Urbani razvoj pušča za sabo številne zapuščene oziroma nerešene posege v okolje in z njimi prostore, ki so primerni za bivanje prilagodljive biodiverzitete. Ti fantomski prostori, ki včasih nastanejo namerno, večinoma pa po naključju in v svoji raznolikosti segajo od posameznih zanemarjenih parcel do strukturne gradnje in obnove, ponujajo edinstveno priložnost za razcvet mikrookolij, mikroorganizmov ter vodne in obvodne flore in favne. Njihovo nenamerno nastajanje ponuja priložnost za razpravo o ontologiji lažnega človeškega namena, ki sčasoma zagotovi pogoje za ukoreninjenje in reprodukcijo simbiotskih kultur. Umetnost lahko z opazovanjem umetnih mikrookolij s sredstvi zvočne ekologije in eksperimentalnega zvoka preseže idejo potencialne sonomorfične dekonstrukcije spomina in tako izpostavi koncept podpiranja življenja, ki izhaja iz družbene malomarnosti oziroma človeške napake.

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Sonična ontologija malomarnosti je del kontinuirane raziskave, zasnovane na poslušanju zapuščenih prostorov in krajin, ki jih je človek s svojo prisotnostjo in izkoriščanjem korenito preoblikoval, zdaj pa so znova »izročeni« naravi in si prilaščajo prostor.

Človekovo stremljenje po takojšnjih in dobičkonosnih rezultatih, ki se praviloma dosegajo z različnimi oblikami nekropolitike, je družbenopolitično vodilo, v ospredju že stoletja in še danes prevladujoči model, s katerim se upravičuje strukturni razvoj, pa naj gre za urbanizacijo, izkoriščanje naravnih virov, industrijo ali trgovino.

Počasen razvoj družbenopolitičnih mehanizmov prinaša neizogibno malomarnost, ki vznikne, ko predvideni družbeno-strukturni »poseg«

izgubi trajnostni predznak, tehnološko vrednost ali celo poglavitni smoter in tako postane odgovornost drugega.

Neizprosen »zob časa« je pokazal, da je edini zanesljivi in odgovorni dejavnik, ki je sposoben ohranjati evolucijski razvoj na Zemlji v ravnovesju, narava, katere neodtujljivi del je – s stališča širšega evolucijskega okvira – tudi človek. Tak pogled zahteva razumevanje kompleksnih ekosistemov, na katera poleg bivanjskih razmer, ki jih omogoča naše Osončje, vpliva tudi dinamika ekso okolij celotnega vesolja. K tej temi pristopam s pomočjo koncepta tretje krajine.

S tega vidika bi lahko rekli, da je tretja krajina genetski rezervoar planeta, prostor prihodnosti. Če tretjo krajino razumemo kot biološko nujnost, ki pogojuje prihodnost živih stvari, to predrugači našo interpretacijo teritorija in pospeši razvoj območij, ki jih uvrščamo med zanemarjena. Naloga političnega telesa je, da se organizira tako, da bo prevzelo odgovornost za ta neopredeljena območja, ki so ključnega pomena za našo prihodnost. [Gilles Clement, Manifeste du Tiers-Paysage, 2003, Editions Sujet/Objet.]

Na koncept tretje krajine sem naletela dolgo zatem, ko sem že poslušala in snemala na lokacijah, ki so bila še nedavno 5

prizorišče industrijskega izkoriščanja. Večletno zanimanje za kulturo spomina, razumevanje krhkega odnosa med zvokom in prostorom, fenomenološka raziskava teorije morfičnih polj in rezonance in podobnih konceptov so pričeli tvoriti interdisciplinarni konglomerat

– umetniški pristop k razširitvi koncepta tretje krajine, ki jo je kot prvi opredelil francoski vrtnar, krajinski arhitekt, botanik, entomolog in pisec Gilles Clement.

Moj prispevek h konceptu predstavlja mnemopoetična apropriacija v okviru spomina prostora. Temelji na povezovanju ekoloških in solarnih kvalitet, ki sem jih skrbno preučila in nato preoblikovala v zvočne kompozicije. Posamezni nizi postanejo glasbeni konstrukti, nastali na podlagi terenskih posnetkov – edinstvenih zvočnih fraktalov, določenih s prostorom in časom, razstavljenih in znova sestavljenih v novo izkušnjo, ki zrcali krhkost ogroženega okolja in našo tesnobnost ob prevladujoči, grobijanski politiki Antropocena. Čeprav je bil ustvarjalni proces izrazito intuitiven, je zahteval poglobljeno poznavanje transdisciplinarne zgodovine prostora, antropologije, biodiverzitete, razvoja človekove senzorike kot tudi performativnih pristopov k terenskemu snemanju in poslušanju.

Z nadgradnjo koncepta tretje krajine želim osvetliti relacijsko brezpogojnost vseobsegajoče narave in izpostaviti pomembnost priznavanja:

- samoregulativne dinamike celotnega ekosistema;

- hierarhije in komunikacije med ogromnimi količinami dinamičnih plasti, ki tvorijo ekosistem;

- sinkopiranja in naraščajočega razkoraka med človekovim razumevanjem časa in dejansko evolucijsko dinamiko planeta Zemlja;

- pomena razumevanja brezpogojne odvisnosti od Ekosistema, ki je tudi sam zgolj del širšega kozmološkega stanja;

- krhkosti zavračanja medsebojne povezanosti s planetarnimi dinamikami in cikli;

- naslavljanja pomembnosti dviga družbene ozaveščenosti, ki bo 6

presegla obstoječe družbene strukture, kot je recimo politično opolnomočenje;

- ustvarjanja pogojev za ohranjanje kulture spomina;

- širjenja družbene odgovornosti onkraj trenutne stvarnosti;

- in, nenazadnje, prepoznanja, da je naša časovnost nedvomno ustvarjalni dejavnik v formativnem razvoju trajnostnega načina življenja za prihodnost.

Morda bi bilo preveč na prvo žogo, če bi vzroke za ponavljajočo se družbeno malomarnost (v zgoraj omenjenem kontekstu) iskali v surovem človeškem vedenju, v brezbrižnosti in pohlepu. Teror kapitalske akumulacije, pridobivanje in razkazovanje politične moči in zagovarjanje kulture reprezentacije kajpada niso nekaj novega, prav tako pa tudi niso rezultat sodobne družbe.

V širšem smislu, formativne značilnosti konstrukta, ki ga imenujemo kolektivni spomin, deloma pogojuje človekova zmožnost prepoznavanja in razumevanja družbene dinamike, ki se odvija v daljših časovnih obdobjih. Kar je velik izzivob (omejenem) razumevanju sveta in življenja kot kaskadne sistematizacije vseobsegajoče materije, podrejene zakonom fizike in biologije – od najpreprostejših bioloških pojavov do neslutenih potencialov zavesti.

Človekova lastnost, da zmore odgovornost preložiti daleč v prihodnost, se zdi povezana z njegovo zmožnostjo, da prepozna in integrira preteklost, pri čemer oba »fokusa« delujeta kot dinamični masi, ki pogojujeta to, čemur pravimo preverljiva resničnost. Če nekoliko zaostrimo in na vse pogledamo z zelo oddaljene ptičje perspektive, ugotovimo, da evolucijo družbene ozaveščenosti temeljno pogojuje naše pojmovanje časa in razumevanje vibracijskega gibanja v naravi.

Za trenutek predpostavimo, da počasi opuščamo linearno razumevanje časa – v ontološkem smislu, ne organizacijskem – in da smo doumeli pomen sinkopiranega prepletanja preteklosti in prihodnosti ter 7

fenomen kontrakcije prepoznali kot intrinzičen evolucijskemu razvoju.

V tem procesu smo neločljivi od vsega, kar je predhodilo, preteklost ocenjujemo skozi prizmo sedanjosti ter z zavestnim delovanjem odpravljamo neravnovesja, ki bi lahko preprečevala kontinuiteto.

Vendar pa se zaradi prevelike kaotičnosti preteklega pogosto izogibamo nelagodju kontrakcije, stopnjevanju pritiska ali morda celo ustvarjamo vakuum, v katerem ne preteklost in ne prihodnost ne moreta uresničiti svojih formativnih potencialov, zaradi česar se nemalokrat znajdemo v neresnični resničnosti.

Zakaj je dinamika časovnosti pomembna v kontekstu evolucije družbene odgovornosti?

Zato, ker nas lahko premislek o teh univerzalnih principih pripravi do tega, da sprejmemo, da smo v vseh pogledih nerazdružljivo povezani tako s preteklostjo kot s prihodnostjo, neločljivi od okolja in narave same. V tej preprosti ugotovitvi – da človek ni nek revolucionaren pojav, ampak eden od številnih »podaljškov« preteklosti v zamahu ustvarjalne ekspanzije – obstaja drobna možnost za prodor dokaj utopičnega koncepta: možnost spremembe našega odnosa do naglega in nebrzdanega izkoriščanja in onesnaževanja tega, kar se nam kaže kot enovita in kontinuirana sistematizacija življenja.

Na trenutno stvarnost in vsesplošen razkroj tako imenovanih demokratičnih vrednot moramo pogledati v luči družbene odgovornosti in prizadevanj, da presežemo družbeno manipulacijo, izpridenje osnovnih človeških vrednot ter pronicanje koruptivnih vedenj v vzvode politične moči, povezave med manipulatorskimi tehnološkimi trendi in vladavino trga ter najdemo načine, da zaobidemo ideologijo na kapitalu utemeljene moči in podpremo družbene diskurze, ki tako v individualnem kot tudi kolektivnem smislu krepijo zavedanje sveta kot celovitega življenjskega sistema.

Med procesom konceptualizacije Sonične ontologije malomarnosti, ki bo na ogled v galeriji Steklenik, sem raziskovala v prostorih – od tisoč 8

let starih kamnolomov do sodobnih megastruktur, opuščenih zaradi politične korupcije in kapitalsko pogojenih družbenopolitičnih pretresov

–, ki sta jih za zmeraj zaznamovala človekovo prekomerno izčrpavanje in njegova neustavljiva želja, da gradi. Poslušanje in opazovanje prostora, prepredenega z očitnimi sledmi človekovega delovanja izpred tisoč let, je resnično čudovita izkušnja. Opazovati vpliv tega delovanja na surove naravne materiale, si predstavljati orodja in tehnologije, uporabljene za izkoriščanje, opazovati možne pogoje dela in možnosti za preoblikovanje krajine v procesu izčrpavanja, opazovati trenutek, ko so ljudje končno zapustili območje, v katerem je po njegovem odhodu vzniknila tretja krajina. Tudi po daljši prisotnosti na tej starodavni, tisoč let stari lokaciji se ne moremo izogniti zaključku, da vsiljena človekova dejavnost pušča podobne, če ne celo enake sledi in ima enak vpliv na okolje, kot če bi se izkoriščanje zgodilo pred zgolj sto leti. O časovni oddaljenosti lahko sklepamo na podlagi gostote in raznolikosti biološkega sestava, ki naseli iztrošeno krajino. Ob čemer je treba upoštevati časovno-dinamični zasuk, ki temelji na robustni moči biološke regeneracije in eksponentni rasti, dokler krajina ni zapolnjena do zadnjega kotička in se nato prelevi v nekakšno adaptivno evolucijo

– gradeč odpornost na vplive iz neposrednega okolja in pogoje za samoohranitev v vzpostavljenem mikrookolju. Natančneje lahko fizične sledi časa opazujemo v sedimentnih plasteh zelo starih lokacij.

Nekoliko manj očitne sledi, ki bi jih lahko umestili v okvire teorije morfičnih polj, pa najdemo med opazovanjem zvočne krajine in njenih energetskih kvalitet. Gre za koncept, ki sem ga bolj podrobno preučila v publikaciji Introduction to Sound & Listening as Psychoenergetic Agencies, ki pa je žal še daleč od sprejetja v znanstveni diskurz.

Zvočna kompozicija krajine, ki sem jo ustvarila, je simulirana holografska formacija časa, kjer se mestoma prepletajo spominske sledi, intuitivna sredstva pa se prevajajo v neposredne geste, ki predstavljajo multidimenzionalno naravo stvarnosti. V konstrukciji zvočnega materiala prehajam od popolne pasivnosti, prek aktivne 9

raziskave do intervencije in performativne obstrukcije kraja. Končna naracija se osredišča v nizu več linij, kot bi gledali eksperimentalni film ali koreografsko intervencijo v sedmih prizorih, nastalih s pomočjo preprostih sredstev imaginativne psihonavigacije.

Jedro kompozicijske strukture se vpenja v opuščeno gradbeno območje megastrukture v Stožicah, plasti mnemopoetičnih zvočnih sledi pa izvirajo iz opuščenih kamnolomov apnenca na otoku Korčula v južni Dalmaciji, kot so Glogovac, Lenga, Defora in Vrnik, pa tudi iz opuščenih rudnikov in apnenih jam na Fruški gori v Vojvodini na severu Srbije ter drugih lokacij, kot na primer vojaškega kompleksa v gozdu na Avali na obrobju Beograda.

Za poslušanje in performativne intervencije v opuščeni megastrukturi objekta v Stožicah bi lahko rekli, da so sled, ki je najbližje naši trenutni družbeni in politični stvarnosti. Gre za robusten in megalomanski projekt, ki pokriva obsežno območje ljubljanske občine. Postopoma se je ta nekoliko preambiciozen in nikoli končan projekt prelevil v zapuščen imperij betona. Zdaj sameva kot urbana anomalija, vkopana globoko pod zemljo, s številnimi podzemnimi etažami in celotno infrastrukturo temeljev, in kot taka razkriva plasti brezupnih prizadevanj, da bi se narejeno ohranilo – vse do točke preloma, ko se je projekt opustil. Čas naposled razkriva dinamiko opuščenega objekta, ki se odvija v betonski tišini.

Če lahko to tišino povežemo z začasno odsotnostjo človeka, pa to ne pomeni, da imamo opraviti s pusto zvočno krajino. Nasprotno.

Naključno razporejeni objekti omogočajo mogočne odmeve, ventilacijski jaški in druge površine so v nenehni sonični interakciji z zračnimi tokovi, voda, ki kipi iz fantomskih virov, preplavlja območje na osupljive načine, iz neposredne bližine se sliši mestno vrvenje … V

tej polifoniji sem našla odlično matrico za narativ o intimnem lunarnem iskanju, potovanju v času v nasprotni smeri urnega kazalca.

V paralelnem svetu, starodavni kamnolomi južnih obal otoka Korčule 10

razgaljajo ves potencial tretje krajine. Kar so danes rajske plaže, na katerih se bohotijo gozdovi borovca in sredozemska biotska raznovrstnost, so bili nekoč močno izkoriščani kamnolomi, ki so s čudovito belim in s kristali bogatim apnencem oskrbovali Evropo in celo Ameriko. Človekova silna želja po gradnji je ta kamen vgradila v številne templje in katedrale, med drugim v Hagijo Sofijo, najdemo pa ga tudi v spomenikih, trgih in mestnih hišah, med bolj znanimi je najbrž Bela hiša v Washingtonu.

Poetični poudarek kompozicije je osrediščen v koreografiji brezciljne hoje; elementi prekrivajočih se stvarnosti, v katerih prod polzi skozi odprtine, ustvarjajo nepredvidljive akustične učinke; pesek in prod, ki ju prevračajo valovi časa, pod in nadvodno zvočno onesnaženje, ki ga je s svojim delovanjem zakrivil človek, ter dinamika in teksture voda in vodnih mikrookolij, ki gradijo reproduktivna in s tem v temelju formativna okolja v procesu ekspanzije Ekosistema.

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Scenarij

1. Hoja po Stožicah, prešita s sonomorfičnimi plastmi kamnoloma v Lengi, rezervoarji za vodo za gašenje požarov, polni komarjevih ličink, ki se množijo v deževnici, zbrani v gozdu nad mestom Korčula; v mehkem prepletu s kvalitetami kamna iz kamnolomov v Glogovcu in Vrniku; poseg na stožiških kovinskih vratih, ki ne vodijo nikamor, odkrivanje dolgih betonskih hodnikov, metanje kamenčkov, velikopotezna raziskava odmeva v spodnji etaži stožiške megastrukture, elektromagnetno sevanje električnih drogov, kapljanje vode iz razpok v stenah, oddaljeni zvok ljubljanskega prometa.

2. Hoja se nadaljuje. Kovinsko stopnišče v Stožicah, zvočnost odprtin za prezračevanje, sampli in minimalistični zvoki klavirja ustvarjajo zamrznjeno, avtistično krajino; sonomorfični element, hidrofon, postavljen v odtočni kanal poleg katedrale sv. Marka, bisera zgodnjegotske arhitekture, zgrajene iz vrniškega apnenca; kamenčki in odsluženi kosi lesa, ki padajo skozi odprtine in špranje v Stožicah, narativni lok razpre poseg na kovinski površini transformatorske postaje v gozdu na Avali.

3. Hidrofonična tekstura valovanja iz podzemne jame v kamnolomu Defora, ki se ji kmalu pridružijo zvoki hidrofona iz opuščenega rudnika apnenca ob jezeru Bešenevo (na obronkih Fruške gore je nastalo po naključju, ko so med izkopavanjem naleteli na podzemno vodno žilo) in morski ježki iz zaliva Tatinja; starodavno kamnito trgovsko pristanišče; hidrofon, zakopan v pesek. Poudarek prevzamejo ambientalne teksture, nastale ob posegu v vrniškem kamnolomu.

Kapljanje s stožiških sten. Pomladni lipov gozd, ki privablja roječe čebele. Kamenčki in odsluženi kosi lesa, ki padajo skozi špranje in odprtine v Stožicah, se iztečejo z izrazitim prepletom dveh soničnih stvarnosti.

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4. Hoja po nenavadni umetni površini v Stožicah. Pojavijo se morski ježki in morski slinarji iz kamnoloma v Lengi. Polifonično petje iz Stožic prekrije sonomorfično ambientalnost umetno zgrajene lagune kamnoloma v Lengi, prešito s praskanjem morskega rakca po hidrofonu in poudarjeno z elementi podvodnega zvočnega onesnaženja.

5. Valovi iz kamnolomov Lenga in Glogovac, hidrofon zakopan pod morsko dno. Raziskovanje v Stožicah se nadaljuje. Naelektrenost ljubljanskega neba, helikopterji v daljavi, vrtinčenje daljinsko vodenih dronov. Podvajanje korakov, stopnjevanje pohoda. Zvok tivolskega potoka. Odhod iz Stožic.

6. Podvodno zvočno onesnaženje z obal Vrnika in Lenge. Nad vodo hrup čolnov in igranje otrok na vrniškem pomolu. Praskanje po kamnu v nasprotni smeri urnega kazalca v kamnolomu Gologovac. Zvoki siren v Ljubljani. Zvok kamenčkov, ki jih prevračajo valovi, posnet s hidrofonom, zakopanim v vrniškem kamnolomu. Zabijanje žeblja v betonsko steno v Stožicah. Valovanje iz kamnoloma v Lengi, posneto s hidrofonom, vkopanim pod morsko dno. Zvočno onesnaženje se stopnjuje.

7. Trdnjava nad mestom Korčula, zgrajena iz vrniškega apnenca, hreščanje prenosnega oddajnika v vetru, moj sin Luka stopa po produ in se igra z borovimi storži. Veter v borovem gozdu. Luka posnema škržate. Kamenčki padajo skozi odprtine v stožiškem betonu.

Hipnotično oglašanje čričkov zvečer v kamnolomu v Lengi. Ogromni valovi v kamnolomu Defora se prevračajo v globoko podvodno jamo.

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Manja Ristić

Sonic Ontology of

Negligence

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Both abandoned and unresolved interventions that urban development has left behind keep producing fully habitable spaces for adaptable bio diversities. Sometimes fully intentional, but mostly accidental, in their variety from individual neglect to mega structural (re)building, these often phantom places offer a unique opportunity for the thriving of micro environments, microorganisms, aquatic and subaquatic flora & fauna. Their accidental creation opens a discussion about the possible ontology of negligence and false human intention that eventually enables conditions for the symbiotic cultures to root and reproduce.

Observing these environments through the means of sonic ecologies

& experimental sound, art is finally transcending the idea of a possible sonomorphic deconstruction of memory, so as to rethink the concept of supporting life flourishing out of social neglect or possibly a singular human error.

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Sonic Ontology of Negligence is a continuous research evolving from listening to abandoned places and landscapes reshaped by extensive intervention of human presence and exploitation, and eventually “given over“ to Nature to reclaim the space.

The human tendency for immediate and profitable outcomes that is largely leaning on various forms of necropolitics has been a socio-political trend for many centuries, and is still a predominant model for the justification of structural development, whether it involves urbanisation, exploitation of natural resources, industry or trade. The slow evolvement of socio-political mechanisms therefore implies the inevitable surfacing of a negligence, which occurs when the envisioned socio-structural “intervention” loses its sustainability, technological value or overall purpose, and in the unprojected future becomes the responsibility of the other.

The inexorability of the “tooth of time” has proved that the only reliable and responsible agent toward maintaining balanced evolutionary development on Earth is Nature, which we are inseparable from in the larger evolutionary framework. This demands an understanding of complex ecosystems, rooted in the conditions of the Solar System, and noticeably further tied into the dynamics of the Exo environments of the overall Universe. My approach to this topic is leaning on the concept of the Third Landscape.

From this point of view, the Third Landscape can be considered as the genetic reservoir of the planet, the space of the future. Viewing the Third Landscape as a biological necessity, conditioning the future of living things, modifies the interpretation of territory and enhances areas usually looked upon as negligible. It is up to the political body to organize ground division in such a manner as to assume responsibility for these undetermined areas, tantamount to concern for the future.

[Gilles Clement, The Manifeste du Tiers-Paysage, published in 2003 by Editions Sujet/Objet.]

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We tend to perceive the abandoned spaces within or near inhabited areas taken over by nature as temporary, but they often exist for a prolonged amount of time, and although they have seemingly predetermined physical values, the expansion of their bio composition could unexpectedly evolve into wondrous micro-environments relevant to the overall ecosystem.

I came across the concept of the Third Landscape long after I was already driven to the listening and recording to certain sites of industrial exploitation from the not so recent past. My long term interest in the culture of memory, understanding of the delicate relations between sound and space, phenomenological research on the theory of the morphic fields and resonance and the related, formed an interdisciplin-ary compound – an artistic approach to broadening the concept of the Third Landscape, previously pinned down by Gilles Clement, French gardener, garden designer, botanist, entomologist and writer.

My personal hallmark to the concept falls under the mnemopoetic appropriation within the frame of the memory of the place, through a deep binding of the ecological and sonic traits, which are carefully examined and further transformed into soundscape compositions. The recorded sonic compounds evolve into musical constructs, which are derived from field recordings, treated as unique sonic fractals and defined by a specific location in space and time, decomposed and re-imagined to build a new experience mirroring the fragilities of both the endangered environment and our anxieties about the predominant

– ruffian Anthropocene politics. The creative process comes as deeply intuitive, but also requires long-term research on the trans-disciplinary history of the locale, anthropology, biodiversity, personal sensory development, and performative approaches in field of recording and listening.

With embracing the concept of the Third Landscape, I have the intention to shed light on the relational unconditionality of an all-18

pervading nature and to embrace the importance of acknowledging the following:

- the self-regulatory dynamics of the overall Ecosystem;

- the hierarchy and the communication properties between enormous amounts of dynamic layers in the overall Ecosystem;

- the syncopations and increscent biases between human comprehension of time and the actual evolutionary dynamics on planet Earth;

- the importance of understanding our unconditional dependence on the Ecosystem, which is in turn also only an extension of the larger cosmological condition;

- the fragility of rejecting interconnectedness with planetary dynamics and cycles;

- addressing the importance of raising social awareness far beyond existing social structures, such as political empowerment;

- creating the conditions to sustain the culture of memory;

- expanding the social responsibility far beyond immediate reality;

- and finally, acknowledging that our temporality is an actual creative agent in the formative development of the sustainabilities for the future.

It would be slightly too obvious to look for the reasons of continuous social negligence (in the above mentioned context) in the crudeness of human behaviour, in ignorance or greed. The terror of capital accumulation, harvesting and exercising political power as well as the proliferation of the culture of representation, are not new to humankind nor are they the outcomes of contemporary society.

In the wider sense, the formative traits of what could be considered a construct of collective memory, partially depend on the human capacity to acknowledge the existence of social dynamics through longer periods of time, and stripped down to a cascade systematization of all matter, reduced by our understanding of the permanent idle talk of physics and biology in the formative interplay, which is sustaining life, spanning from the simplest bio appearances to the inconceivable potentials of consciousness.

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Human capacity to place responsibility in the future far beyond a lifetime seems to be interrelated with the capacity to acknowledge and integrate the past, where both “directions” tend to behave as dynamic compounds conditioning what we call veritable reality. Let us adopt a boldly extravagant bird’s eye perspective: the evolution of social awareness greatly depends on our understanding of time and the awareness of a vibratory movement in nature.

Let us say, hypothetically, that we are slowly abandoning the linear comprehension of time (in the ontological sense, not the organizational), somehow grasping the constant syncopations between the past and the future and comprehending the phenomenon of contractions as intrinsic to evolutionary development. In this process, we are undivided from what was before, and we examine the involvement of the past through what occurs as our present reality; we act consciously to resolve imbalances in the interest of maintaining continuation. But due to the chaotic overload of the past, we tend to resist the unpleasantness of contractions, accumulation of pressure, or perhaps even of a vacuum, in which neither the past nor the future can fulfil their formative potentials, to occasionally find ourselves in unfounded reality.

Why is time dynamics important in the context of the evolution of social responsibility?

Because by rethinking these universal principles, we would be forced to accept that we are in all senses undivided from the past and the future, and equally from the environment and nature as such. In this simple construct of realization, that we are not some revolutionary occurrence but only one of the many extensions of the past in creative expansion, there is a slight possibility for the proliferation of a rather utopian concept – that we change our attitude toward rapid and uncontrolled exploitation and pollution of what appears to be a unified and continuous systematization of life.

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As regards social awareness, and from the perspective of the present moment and the unprecedented collapse of the so called democratic values, we first need to put efforts in transcending – the roots of social manipulation, corruption of basic human values and its transposition into political power, the bonds between manipulative technological trends and the rule of market to find ways of hijacking the ideology of capital-driven power and to support social discourses that bring forth the importance of both individual and collective capacities to perceive the world as an all-pervading living system.

In the process of conceptualizing Sonic Ontology of Negligence to be presented in Steklenik Gallery, I resided in places heavily exploited and forever changed by the human urge to build, comprising thousand years old quarries as well as present-day mega-structures, abandoned as a result of political corruption and capital-driven socio-political turmoil. The act of listening and observing these spaces with explicit traces of human workmanship that unfolded a thousand years ago was a truly uplifting experience. Observing the impact on the raw natural materials, imagining the tools and the technology of exploitation, observing possible working conditions and the possibilities of landscape transformation in the processes of exploitation, observing the moment when humans finally abandoned the site, which was to be the actual beginning of the Third Landscape in creation. Even after a prolonged amount of time spent in the locale, marked as ancient and at least 1000 years old, one cannot escape the conclusion that many elements of imposed human activity leave similar if not the same traces and have the same impact on the surroundings as if exploitation happened only 100 years ago. What actually gives us clues about time distance is the density and diversity of the bio cultures taking over the landscape. But with a certain time-dynamic catch, which lays in the robustly penetrative force of biological revival and comprehends exponential growth until territory is fully occupied, and then switches to a sort of adaptive evolution – building resilience to immediate surrounding as well as self-maintaining within the established micro environment. We can observe 21

more accurate physical traces of time in the sediments of very old sites.

And perhaps the slightly less obvious traces, falling into the theory of morphic fields, can be found by observing the soundscape and its energy properties, the concept I closely looked into in the publication Introduction to Sound & Listening as Psychoenergetic Agencies.

Unfortunately, this second approach is still far from being accepted in the scientific discourse.

The soundscape composition I created is a simulating holographic formation of time, with memory traits overlapping in several places and with rather intuitive means turning to obvious gestures representing the actual multidimensional nature of the reality. In building the sound material, I traverse from complete passivity, toward active research, to becoming a penetrative element, marked by intervention and performative obstruction of the place. Finally, the built narrative defines itself through rather explicit storytelling, as if we watched an experimental movie or a choreographic intervention in 7 scenes, developed using imaginative psycho-navigation.

The nucleus of the compositional structure is devoted to the abandoned construction building site of the Stožice mega-structure, while the layers of mnemopoetic sonic imprints are derived from old limestone quarries from the island of Korčula in South Dalmatia, such as Glogovac, Lenga, Defora and Vrnik, but also from abandoned mineral mines and lime pits from Fruška gora in Vojvodina, North Serbia, and other sites such as the military compound in the Avala forest in the suburbs of Belgrade.

Listening and performative interventions at the abandoned Stožice mega-structure are an imprint closest to our present-day social and socio-political reality. Built as a robust and megalomaniacal project, the structure covers a vast space of the Stožice district in Ljubljana.

Gradually, this overambitious and never-completed project turned into an abandoned empire of concrete. Dug deeply in the ground, with 22

numerous underground levels and an overall infrastructure of founda-tions, it now stands as an urban anomaly, revealing the many layers of desperate efforts undertaken to preserve what was done, until the breaking point of the final desertion. Now, time is slowly exposing the dynamics of a derelict unfolding in this concrete silence.

This silence perhaps represents the temporary absence of man, but in no way implies an absence of a rich soundscape. Enormous echoes scattered with random objects, ventilation holes and sonic traits of various surfaces are constantly interacting with air currents, water coming from a phantom source taking over the space in wondrous ways, and there is the surrounding city noise ... In this polyphony, I found a perfect matrix for building the narrative of an intimate lunar quest, an anti-clockwise time-travel.

In the parallel world, on the South shores of the island of Korčula, ancient quarries are revealing the full potential of the Third landscape.

What are today heavenly shores surrounded with rich pine forests and flourishing with Mediterranean bio diversities, were once heavily exploited stone cutting pits, which were supplying Europe and even the American continent with astonishing white limestone, praised for its crystal-rich composition. Human urge to build has embedded this stone into numerous temples and cathedrals, one of them being Hagia So-phia, as well as monuments, squares and town halls, one of the most famous being the White House in Washington.

The poetical accents are given to the choreography of wandering; the elements of overlapping realities in which the pebbles are falling through the holes, are also building unpredictable acoustic outcomes; sand and pebbles rolled around by the waves of time, under and above water noise pollution imposed by humans, and the dynamics and the textures of waters and aquatic micro spaces that are building the reproductive, that is essentially formative environments, as part of the process of supporting the expansion of the Ecosystem.

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The script

1. Stožice walk wrapped in the sonomorphic layers of the Lenga quarry, a water-for-fire tank, filled with mosquito larvae reproducing in the rainwater collected in the forest above the town of Korčula; joined by a gentle treatment of the stone from Glogovac and Vrnik quarries; intervention on the Stožice metal door leading to nowhere, discovering long concrete holes at Stožice, throwing pebbles, a grandiose echo research of the lower level of the megastructure, electromagnetic radiation coming out of electricity pole, water dripping from the cracked walls in Stožice, the distant sound of the Ljubljana traffic.

2. The wandering continues. Metal stairs in Stožice, discovering ventilation holes, resampled fragments and minimal piano build a somehow frozen autistic landscape. The sonomorphic element, a hydrophone, placed into the broken sewer next to the St. Mark’s cathedral, an early Gothic pearl, made out of the Vrnik limestone; the pebbles and wooden debris falling through the holes in Stožice, the narrative appearing out of an intervention on the metal surface of an electricity station in the Avala forest.

3. The hydrophone texture of falling waves from the Defora quarry underwater caves, soon joined by the hydrophone recordings of Bešenovo lake ex lime mine (the lake was created accidentally by hitting the underground water vein on the mountain of Fruška Gora), and urchins from Tatinja dock, an ancient stone trade port, hydrophone buried in the sand. Ambient textures based on a processed intervention at the Vrnik quarry take over. Stožice walls dripping. Linden forest in spring filled with bees. Pebbles and wooden debris falling through the holes in Stožice bring us to an explicit overlap of the two sonic realities.

4. Walking over the strange artificial surfaces in Stožice. Textures of sea urchins and sea slugs from Lenga quarry appear. Polyphonic singing in Stožice covers the sonomorphic ambient of the Lenga quarry, artificially 24

cut sea pool, with the crab scratching the hydrophone, covered in explicit underwater noise pollution.

5. The waves at Lenga and Glogovac quarries, the hydrophone buried under the sea bed. Wandering over the Stožice surfaces continues. A strange ambiance on the sky of Ljubljana, helicopters in the distance, remote control drones. The steps duplicate as the wandering escalates.

the sound of the Tivoli creek. Leaving Stožice.

6. Underwater noise pollution from the Vrnik and Lenga shores. Above the water, boat sound pollution and children playing on the dock of village Vrnik. Scratching the stone at the Glogovac quarry in an anti-clock wise direction. Emergency sirens in Ljubljana. The sound of the pebbles rolled around by the waves, with hydrophone buried at the Vrnik quarry shore. Hitting an iron nail in the Stožice concrete surface.

Waves at Lenga quarry over the hydrophone buried under the sea bed.

Noise pollution escalates.

7. The Forteca tower (above the town of Korčula), made out of the Vrnik limestone, mobile transmitter howling in the wind, my son Luka walking over the gravel and throwing pine cones. Wind in the pine forest. Luka imitating cicadas. Pebbles falling through concrete holes in Stožice. Hypnotic crickets at the Lenga quarry in the evening. Defora quarry waves falling deep down into the underwater cave.

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Steklenik is hosted by the Greenhouse Tivoli Cesta 27. aprila, Ljubljana

#acousticommons

Sonic Ontology of Negligence

Artist: Manja Ristić

Translation and proofreading: Katja Kosi, Melita Silič Publisher: Cona, zavod za procesiranje sodobne umetnosti, Ljubljana, 2023

Book collection: Steklenik 2020/21 / 1

Digital edition

Not for sale

Venue: Steklenik, Gallery for Sound, Bioacoustics and Art, FM 88.8MHz, 3rd programme of Radio Slovenia – Ars programme Production: Cona, zavod za procesiranje sodobne umetnosti, Ljubljana, 2021

Co-production: University Botanic Gardens Ljubljana www.cona.si

www.steklenik.si

www.botanicni-vrt.si

www.acousticommons.net

CONA is supported by the Municipality of Ljubljana, department of culture. The Steklenik project is supported by the Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition and booklet are part of the Acoustic Commons project, which is supported by the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia and the Creative Europe program.

Made available in pdf format at publikacije.steklenik.si, on 1 January 2023.

© CONA 2021. All rights reserved.

Co-funded by the

Creative Europe Programme

of the European Union



Steklenik gostuje v Rastlinjaku Tivoli,

Cesta 27. aprila, Ljubljana

#acousticommons

Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 138961155

ISBN 978-961-92677-4-5 (PDF)

Sonična ontologija malomarnosti

Umetnica: Manja Ristić

Prevod in lektura: Katja Kosi, Melita Silič Izdala: Cona, zavod za procesiranje sodobne umetnosti, v Ljubljani, 2023

Knjižna zbirka: Steklenik 2020/21 / 1

Digitalna izdaja

Ni naprodaj

Prizorišče: Steklenik, galerija za zvok, bioakustiko in umetnost, FM 88.8 MHz, 3. program Radia Slovenija – program Ars Izdala: Cona, zavod za procesiranje sodobne umetnosti, v Ljubljani, 2021

Koprodukcija: Botanični vrt Univerze v Ljubljani www.cona.si

www.steklenik.si

www.botanicni-vrt.si

www.acousticommons.net

Program CONE podpira Mestna občina Ljubljana, oddelek za kulturo, projekt Steklenik podpira Ministrstvo za kulturo RS.

Razstava in knjižica sta del projekta Akustično skupno, ki ga sofinancira program Evropske unije Ustvarjalna Evropa.

Dano na voljo v formatu pdf na publikacije.steklenik.si, dne 1. 1. 2023.

© CONA 2021. Vse pravice pridržane.

Co-funded by the

Creative Europe Programme

of the European Union