The Voice of the Jackal
PAST EVENTS
17. Sep. 2022
Gathering point: main railway station entrance north, busThe work was conceived as a performative sound walk experienced while walking through a field or forest. By inviting listeners to walk while listening, the work creates a focused and undistracted listening situation, offering a sound experience that is not merely cognitive but acts physically on the body and reaches unconscious aspects of our relationship with the Other.
The documentary sound walk The Voice of the Jackal departs from a case study of the migration routes of the species Canis aureus, which has spread from the Balkans to central and eastern Europe in recent decades. The growing numbers of jackals have triggered conflicts related to human interests. By combining different discourses, field recordings and composed soundscapes, the authors reflect on the relationship between human culture and non-human species, a relationship that can also be transferred to any socially conditioned Other.
Special attention is given to sensory language, the physical experience written by sound, and the sonic qualities of words. By inventing a sound capable of representing those without a voice, the work unfolds a different organization of temporality, requiring another mode of presence, attention and listening.
The performative aim is to introduce the sound narrative of the non-human Other into a hierarchically organized human discourse without imposing anthropomorphism. The sound of the Other is granted the power of voice and positioned as equal to words within the soundscape. The work thus moves away from the primacy of language and meaning and dramaturgically leads towards a more sensual address of the listener.
Alisa Oleva
The work was conceived as a performative sound walk experienced while walking through a field or forest. By inviting listeners to walk while listening, the work creates a focused and undistracted listening situation, offering a sound experience that is not merely cognitive but acts physically on the body and reaches unconscious aspects of our relationship with the Other.
The documentary sound walk The Voice of the Jackal departs from a case study of the migration routes of the species Canis aureus, which has spread from the Balkans to central and eastern Europe in recent decades. The growing numbers of jackals have triggered conflicts related to human interests. By combining different discourses, field recordings and composed soundscapes, the authors reflect on the relationship between human culture and non-human species, a relationship that can also be transferred to any socially conditioned Other.
Special attention is given to sensory language, the physical experience written by sound, and the sonic qualities of words. By inventing a sound capable of representing those without a voice, the work unfolds a different organization of temporality, requiring another mode of presence, attention and listening.
The performative aim is to introduce the sound narrative of the non-human Other into a hierarchically organized human discourse without imposing anthropomorphism. The sound of the Other is granted the power of voice and positioned as equal to words within the soundscape. The work thus moves away from the primacy of language and meaning and dramaturgically leads towards a more sensual address of the listener.
Playwright and director. A significant part of her oeuvre consists of projects at the intersection of radio and theatre, as well as works exploring and translating radiophonic and musical composition principles into directing and dramaturgical procedures for theatre and radio. Her work has been presented at numerous festivals and has received several nominations and awards.
As a composer, she focuses on researching sound as an entity that affects the listener both physically and semantically. Her music spans from complete abstraction to complex semantic languages. She has received several awards for her concert works, theatre and film music.
She studied Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. Her interests focus on language in its sonic and semantic dimensions and their interaction, as well as on sound as a phenomenon that characterizes everything alive. She has published four poetry books, participated in numerous international festivals and writes for radio and audio-poetic performances.
Artists: Saška Rakef, Bojana Šaljić Podešva, Tina Kozin
Photo: Alisa Oleva
Direction: Saška Rakef
Script: Saška Rakef, Tina Kozin
Music: Bojana Šaljić Podešva
Sound design: Matjaž Miklič
Dramaturgy: Pia Brezavšček
Field recordings, ambiences and effects: Matjaž Miklič, Martin Florjančič
Expert collaboration: Petra Veber
Translation: Sonja Benčina, Špela Bibič, Pia Brezavšček
Interpretation: Barbara Kranjc Avdić, Vesna Jevnikar, Blaž Šef, Nataša Živkovič, Aleksander Golja, Ivan Lotrič
Production: Ingrid Kovač Brus (Editor-in-Chief), Alen Jelen (Editor)
Radio Slovenia, Programme Ars & Society for Art AVGUS, Ljubljana, 2020
Thanks to: Sebastijan Lamut, Miha Krofl, Tomaž Grušovnik