FESTIVAL IZIS
INSTALLATION

The aeolian harp is a 13-string instrument that is played by the wind. It has been designed and created in order to enable the wind to contribute to the sound design of the emerging project Anima Spirare, in which the authors respond to the construction of wind farms in unspoiled locations in the south of Slovenia.

The sounding board of the instrument has been created using wood from a nearly 6,500-year-old fir tree, found in a shallow depression (“kal”) in the settlement of Čadrg by brothers Samo and Jani Kutin. Since their finding, the wood has been used to manufacture numerous instruments, such as this aeolian harp. The aerodynamic cover of the aeolian harp is decorated with an intarsia made from the wood of the same fir tree, challenging the question of how humans use natural resources, as well as invoking a modern view of environmentalism and the so-called green transition.

P L A T E AU R E S I D U E is the imaginative moniker of the award-winning duo – Aljaž Celarc (born in 1989, with a BA in Geography from the Faculty of Arts in SI and an MA in Photography from AKV St. Joost in NL) and Eva Pavlič Seifert (also born in 1989, with a BA in Art History from the Faculty of Arts in SI and an MA in Visual Culture from Aalto University in FI).
In their works, they delve into the realms of landscape ecology and new media, exploring innovative approaches to enhance public consciousness. Their creative process invariably amplifies the voices of project participants and natural elements such as rocks, air, organisms, and assorted amalgamations of matter, which they ingeniously reconfigure into novel forms and media systems. Immersive video installations lie at the core of their artistic production. They reside and work in the Slovene village of Novi Kot, nestled within the forested expanse between Goteniška Gora and Snežnik. Another one of their lifelong projects is Hiša Mandrova (A House Called Mandrova).

Samo Kutin (autodidact, born in 1982) is a multi-instrumentalist, known for his use of unconventional homemade musical instruments and sound sources, such as the “hurdy gurdy” musical instrument from the Middle Ages. In the field of free improvisation, he is intensively involved in searching, discovering, and manipulating various sound potentials and acoustic dimensions, from gentle murmurs to tumultuous drones, from soft knocking to insufferable squeaking. He is increasingly concentrating on field recording in the natural environment, lifting the veil of questions dealing with the possibilities of sound and existential cooperation with various life forms. His actions touch on important questions of the human nature, existence, and impact on the planet.

Enja Grabijan (born in 1997, MA in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology) is an emerging Slovenian instrumentalist, illustrator, and ethnologist whose work revolves around the human perception of the environment, particularly natural sources such as soil. Her anthropological research is combined with illustrations and music interventions based on the use of string instruments, natural sounds, and noises.

CREDITS
Music: Samo Kutin, Enja Grabrijan
Sound: Mauricio Valdés San Emerio
Photo credits: Aljaž Celarc