Other Golosa

Background The research makes extensive use of acousmatic phenomena to explore cultural resonances within post-communist Russian society. In “The Voice in Cinema” (1999) sound theorist Michele Chion defines acousmatic sounds as sounds whose source and cause is unknown to the listener. This perceived lack of origin causes disembodied sound to acquire a spectral omnipresence. Pierre Schaeffer also developed acousmatic sound as abstract components in his musique concrète artworks. Acousmatic voices were often used in classic Hollywood films to create mystery and tension, such as the use of the wizard’s voice in “The Wizard of Oz”. Along with Chion, a key text is Brian Kane’s recent book “Sound Unseen” (2014). Contribution “Other Golosa” (Other Voices) is a video artwork filmed and edited and storyboarded in collaboration with Sonia Leber. It researches the effect of acousmatic voices heard emanating from sites of writing, utterance and transmission. The disembodied voices of cosmonauts, prisoners and poets – all Russian icons – haunt dilapidated rooms in a public venue in Rostov-on-Don where poets and politicians once spoke. Doorways, archways, windows, record players and loudspeakers mediate voices that have become detached from their original contexts. We hear the disembodied voice cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and Russian prisoners reciting the futurist poetry of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Other utterances ae expressed through various materials, technologies, and through time. Significance The work was exhibited in “Call of the Avant-Garde: Constructivism and Australian Art”, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2017) Curated by Sue Cramer.