Rainzonances

Rainzonances

Tuesday 20 May 2014

ACT ZERO

ACT ZERO
by 
Harris Kafkarides
a place-specific performance/installation, part of RainZonances5

"Act Zero is an exploration on reconstructing the abandoned space where a grandiose cultural center would have been built. The space now used as a parking lot is transformed to an outlined ground plan of an imaginary stage set. Passersby become unaware actors of this 'ground zero' site, through the extension of faded parking area lines." (Harris Kafkarides)



Sunday 18 May 2014

I THINK I THOUGHT I SAW YOU TRY


I THINK I THOUGHT I SAW YOU TRY
by
Melita Couta 
a place-specific installation, part of Rainzonances5

"The gaze of a passerby will fall on views that repeat each other like Russian nesting dolls. The view of the 'terrain vague' is becoming the background of the images, displayed directly in front of the space. Another window within the collages draws on elements of history, memory, culture and urban expansion. Memories that were meant to be, are represented as urban renderings of a silent place."(Melita Couta)



*The pictures below are just a documentation of the work. Please visit the site for a more influential experience
















Thursday 8 May 2014

AMBIENT FREQUENCIES

 Ambient Frequencies
by
Antonis Antoniou
..in traveling away from itself, sound is picked up elsewhere, overheard, carried forward, or brought back, through memories and recordings, to enliven the making of social space 
(B. Labelle)
 
"Disembodied sounds reaching unsuspecting ears have the ability to affect perception in extraordinary ways. Our instinct of orientation as well as that of survival can be abruptly woken when we hear a non-recognisable sound or something that cannot be explained through familiar patterns of relationships. This triggers a kind of mechanism that almost automatically scans through all rationale in order to decode the meaning of the unspecified sound. This sound has an eerie quality, prompting the imagination to visualise potential sources, reinvent the space and activate a layer of mythical place.

The work Ambient Frequencies uses two FM transmitters to 'hack' the passers-by's car radios in order to provoke their imagination to form an Aural Aura with regards to the site they are passing by - the site that the Cyprus Cultural Centre's was going to be constructed. The two transmitters propagate signals on the same frequency, a very popular radio station's frequency. On entering the zone in which the transmitters' signal overtake the radio station’s frequency, the listener's favourite program gradually fades out and in its place he/she hears the composition broadcasted from the first transmitter. Moving ahead, the signal crossfades for the second time, now with the second transmitter, which is set about 200 meters away from the first and broadcasts another electroacoustic composition. Depending on the traffic lights and the traffic in general, a listener can spend more time in the zone of the first or the second transmitter, listening to specific sections of each piece. Thus, the final outcome depends on several parameters, and each listener perceives the work in a different way. The compositions broadcasted by the two transmitters are not abstract at all, and the connection with the site and the Cultural Centre may easily be made. Urged by their instinct (as discussed above) to give a form to this intangible energy, the listeners can be led to perceive the aural aura of the Cultural Centre. Their extended ear has now unlocked the mystery and entered the place. They can now hear the echoes of an opera singer, an orchestra tuning, the audience's cough and so many other sounds." (Antonis Antoniou)




Transmitter 1
 

Transmitter 2
 






Wednesday 7 May 2014

ΠΡΟΣΕΧΩΣ

ΠΡΟΣΕΧΩΣ
by 
Ariana Alphas & Melissa Carro
A place-specific video performance by Ariana Alphas and Melissa Garcia Carro, part of the project RainZonances5
 
"A rare encounter with an 'empty' space in the centre of the city that carries however a prescribed identity. 'A space flirting with the meaning of place but failing to accomplish this in a physical sense; it does so just on an imaginary level.' The performance puts a staged physicality to the existing space making an imaginary stage appear for an instant, highlighting what is already there and looking towards what was to be. The movements draw the lines, mark the space and are performed within it, by us and by anyone or anything else that happened to be there." (Ariana Alphas & Melissa Carro)


Friday 2 May 2014

GIANT EAR

Giant Ear
by 
 Demetris Soteriou aka Rock the Dog & Antonis Antoniou
photographs: Achilleas Zavallis & Efthymia Alphas

"Giant Ear is a wheat-paste poster designed by Demetris Soteriou aka 'Rock the Dog' in collaboration with sound artist Antonis Antoniou. The work invites the random passers-by to tune their ears to the Aural Aura of this extraordinary site, that would have become the cultural hub of Cyprus had the Cultural Centre been constructed. This vision is still haunting the site, echoing ambient drones of expectation and suspension." (Demetris Soteriou & Antonis Antoniou)










Thursday 27 February 2014

SONIC POSTERS

 Sonic Posters
by
Stelios Kallinikou & Antonis Antoniou



"Sonic Posters is a collaborative work by photographer Stelios Kallinikou and sound artist Antonis Antoniou. The work explores the intangible effects and impressions that have emerged at the site of what was to be the grandiose cultural centre of Cyprus in the island's capital Nicosia, an abandoned project today. A mental ambience, an imaginary soundscape, a background noise sounding anticipation, a lacuna, an unfulfilled trajectory.
This series of 3 sonic posters constitutes the first project of Rainzonances5. It uses found objects and sounds as raw material i.e. recorded sounds filtered by the material of the information room, and photographic details from the huge display facing the avenue." (Stelios Kallinikou & Antonis Antoniou)





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Sonic Poster 1

 






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Sonic Poster 2







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Sonic Poster 3

 





Wednesday 26 February 2014

Rainzonances 5 description

Rainzonances5 is the 5th edition of the ongoing project Rainzonances founded in 2008 by sound artist Antonis Antoniou. It explores the "Aural Aura" of the Cyprus Cultural Centre, an establishment that was scheduled to be constructed in the centre of Nicosia, but due to the financial crisis that hit the island in March 2013, the whole project was inevitably postponed and possibly even abandoned. The tone of suspension is vividly manifest in the surrounding area in which this whole "new era" of Cypriot cultural life would have blossomed. The vision of a bright cultural future, which was supposedly one of the potential outcomes of this conception – at least for some people – could be sensed hovering above the eucalyptus trees, the arbitrary parking lot and the information room with the imposing façade displaying the architectural model of the building. The aural aura of the space is characterized by this adjournment and uncertainty, a space scheduled to take a tangible form but that will possibly never get there; a phantom, a vision, a possibility.


What does this bodiless structure sound like? Like a sound with no palpable source, it belongs to the spectral horizon and this could be the reason why sound could be the most suitable medium employed for commenting on such a condition.
How does the passer-by, who is aware of this ambitious scheme, experience the site? Architectural designs and a plethora of promotional expositions would certainly enable the forming of a reflection of this body in their perception; a mental ambience, an imaginary soundscape, a background noise sounding this anticipation, this lacuna, this unfulfilled course.

The project goes further and touches upon the social and political issues that arose following the decision to found and erect this cultural center. Much heated debate has developed around the subject, ever since the conceptualization of the idea:

-       - Such an establishment would be over-excessive for Cyprus standards, while the arts scene in general, suffers from lack of funding.
-       - The foundation would engage mostly the élite and would be oriented around their specific aesthetic angle.

The Cyprus Cultural Center scenario may also be seen as a live manifestation of the Cypriot financial crisis, both mentally and physically. It reflects the vain reverie of society, a society that dreams of suddenly transforming into something else, pretending that it has succeeded in revamping its character.

The deterioration of the site is also a manifestation of this crisis. Verity is accumulated in this site, in the huge corroded advertisement right in front of the Information Office. The voices of the children’s choir are gradually dampening and distorting matching the pictures’ fading to white. In a similar manner time blurs the aspiration and nature claims the site back. The grandiose building with its vast outdoor spaces still functions as a disordered parking lot filled with a variety of interesting rubbish, connecting us to its histories.

A space flirting with the meaning of place but failing to accomplish this in a physical sense; it does so just on an imaginary level. A site haunted by violin pizzicato notes, sophisticated ballet steps, exotic percussion rhythms and reverberant reflections of voices, that succeeds its goal on another dimension. We merely need to make use of our extended ear to be able to listen to these echoes; to form the aural aura of this place; our intimate and personal aural aura.

Rainzonances5, like all projects under the Rainzonances umbrella, has a collaborative, interdisciplinary character. It consists of 5 distinct works that will occur following an unscheduled routine, during the months of March and April 2014. The audience does not necessarily need to attend the happenings, as the whole idea behind the project is for it to have a spontaneous and unexpected character. In other words, the "real-time" audience would be the random passerby. All 5 works will be documented and presented on this blog, especially designed for the purpose of this project.


The artists and their works

1.Stelios Kallinikou w Antonis Antoniou – Sonic Posters (online)
2.Demetris Soteriou (Rock the dog) w Antonis Antoniou – Giant Ear (place-specific wheat-paste poster)
3.Antonis Antoniou – Ambient Frequencies (place-specific sound installation) 
4.Ariana Alphas w Melissa Garcia Carro – ΠΡΟΣΕΧΩΣ (place-specific video performance)
5. Melita Couta - I think I thought I saw you try (place-specific installation)
6. Harris Kafkarides – Act Zero (place-specific installation / performance)