Opening of the exhibition "Sound Lifeline" 26.04. 2023 at 19:00 and a panel discussion on April 27, 2023. at 12:00 at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the program of the MESS Festival of the Memory Module
"Sound Lifeline " is a project led by the International Burch University and co-ordinated by Lejla Odobasic Novo, within the framework of the Creative Europe "B-AIR Infinity Radio" project. It includes research as well as artistic components that deal with the sonic memory of war. Based on the testimonies of fifteen witnesses, the project explores the relationship between sound, space, memory and war. As part of MESS Festival 2023, the "Sound Lifeline" exhibition was curated by Lejla Odobasic Novo and Elma Hodzic and opened on April 26, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. A panel discussion was held the following day on the importance of sound in relationship to various vulnerable groups in different contexts.
The exhibition was supposed to be opened until May 10, 2023 but got extended until June 04, 2023. It constisted of three works of art based on the research part of the project. They are as follows:
Symphony of the Siege, 2023
Electro-acoustic sound composition
Haris Sahačić
"Symphony of the Siege" is an acoustically conceptualized reconstruction of sound experiences, based on the sonic memories of witnesses that were interviewed for the project. The piece recreates the multitudes of environments from the city scale narrowing it down to the intimae space. It recreates the multitude of sound dimensions of the city under the siege and rearranges them in a safe environment. It is an electro-acoustic sound composition, composed of 44 sound miniatures organized in four acts: "Birth of distance", "Architecture of ricochet", "Abstractions of resistance" and "Calibration of silence". Each sound miniature symbolizes an acoustic particle of a single memory of the siege.
Peace, 2023
Sound composition
Mirsada Zećo
"Peace" is a sound performance by Mirsada Zećo, which is based on musical and therapeutic sound theory. The performance is pre-recorded and is also structurally based on the narrowing of sound scales during the performance which eventually ends in silence. The performance is played in the same gallery space, right after Sahačić's "Siege Symphony". The role of this sound composition is to regulate the sound stress that the visitor might experience after listening to an electro-acoustic piece.
Narrating the Siege, 2023
Documentary Film
Lejla Odobašić Novo, Emir Klepo
The documentary film Narrating the Siege (2023) by Lejla Odobašić Novo and Emir Klepo, illustrates the sonic memories of the war of fifteen witnesses who were interviewed as part of the project in connection with their experiences of the siege of Sarajevo. It consists of four parts: The Sound of War, Sound as Orientation and Movement, The Sound of Resistance, and The Sound of Silence. Each of these four parts explores a particular set of sounds in relation to the war and the psychological adaptation of witnesses to the new soundscape
Panel discussion 27.04.2023. at 12:00 at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (for more information and recordig of the panel, please follow separate in the dissemination activities section)
