„Are you aware that this is already happening?”
“We would like to develop our project during a residency program. The final result of the residency would be a video “Song of the Age of Penumbra” – a composition for 12 people and 12 sound objects. In the course of 1-week workshops with 12 inhabitants, we will prepare the composition based on voices, sounds from the rubbish objects and rubbish costumes. We would like the costumes to be fanciful, created with our help by the participants of the workshops and their imagination, for example, fishlike, birds like creatures. ” explains the PRZEPRASZAM group.
The idea of the composition is contained in the theses and conclusions from the book “The Collapse of Western Civilization” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. They outline a real vision of the future world that has to face with negligence and omissions of global policy on climate change. The authors call the 21st century- the Age of Penumbra, the age of denial and ignorance. Despite the knowledge and the ability to influence the changes, governments and humanity couldn’t prevent catastrophes that have occurred later.
In the composition without the use of words but using the sounds from junk objects, an appeal will be sent that these are the last moments for a global reaction to the coming irreversible climate changes. During the workshops, breaking the barrier of fear, of thinking about experimental and contemporary music and art, participants will discover the fascinating world of sounds that can be extracted with the help of mouth, breath, sound-imaging and repetition of phrases. Video in the visual layer will refer to the dadaist manifest of Hugo Ball and musically will be based on the use of compositional technique close to minimalism and the spirit of assumptions of John Cage’s indeterminism.
The advantage of the project is the participation of 12 participants in the workshops. They will be familiar with the subject of pollution of the seas and oceans. This increases knowledge and awareness, and possibly the chance of spreading information about threats in the waters of the world. Moreover, we will work with the garbage, which will allow us to visualize how much we produce them, how many of them are decomposed for a very long time, and how many of them aren’t at all.
Pacific Garbage Patch and Midway Island are overwhelmed with plastic bottles, cans, nets, cords, cups, toothbrushes, etc.). By using garbage we will highlight the problem that is invisible, because of underwater, or far away from us. Scientists say that by 2050 there will be more rubbish in the oceans than fish. Do we have the courage to face the reality of our time and allow ourselves deeply enough to transform us and our future?
PRZEPRASZAM – Team of active art activists on many plains of the creative exploration – performance, sound installations, video art, social projects, animation of the culture, music, painting. Tied in Łódź in Poland by Ola Kozioł and Suavas Lewy. www.przepraszam.eu
Ola Kozioł – a multidisciplinary artist based in Łódź. Graduated painting at the Strzemiński Academy of Art in Łódź, where she currently works. In performance relies mostly on the voice, exploiting the technique of the so-called “white voice” singing typical for Central, East and South-East European folk music culture. Works solo and in groups: Mutant Goat, Przepraszam, Miejskie Darcie Pierza. Conducts workshops for children and women, involved in the realisation of numerous artistic and social projects, with the aim of involving and activating audiences. Participated in the 8th International Festival of Visual inSPIRACJE/apocalypse in Szczecin, Poland (2012, Grand Prix), The limits of globalization, Mediations Biennale, Poznań, Poland (2014), Nomadic Art Festival, Rome, Italy (2015), All man become sisters, Art Museum, Łódź, Poland (2015), PARABIOSOS – communication and coexistence, Contemporary Art Museum Chongqing (2016) http://olakoziol.pl
Suavas Lewy – a composer, a self-taught artist, multi-instrumentalists. Creating the music using all available instruments and objects. Educator and cultural animator, leading workshops called Recyklophony about building instruments from rubbish and unused objects. Creating spontaneous musical projects, solo and in cooperation with musicians, dancers, actors and performance artists. Projects: The Recyklofons, Dźwięk-Bud, Bogowie, Prząśniczki, PRZEPRASZAM. Writing music for films, theatre performances and urban games. Founder small label publishing Nasze Nagrania. He deals with field recordings, sound installations and performance. The winner of the 2nd award in the composer’s competition “Cage 1,2,3” https://soundcloud.com/nvrrit
Most of the work of the PRZEPRASZAM group touches upon topics of respect for the surrounding nature, the world of animals and people. We combine ecology with posthumanism, criticism of consumerism and pacifism.
We’re living in a global village, admitting that we live in Anthropocene can help us understand what we are doing with the Earth and start the repair process before it is too late.