Sound Composition for:

Something Exceedingly Strange is Happening this Spring [by Klitsa Antoniou] 

Stage/Theatrical Space [by Kleopatra Hatzigiosi]

Soundscape Composition for:

I'll see you in the trees [by Nina Sumarac]

Eutopia [by Olga Doulkeridou]

Rippening Utopia [by Olga Doulkeridou]

The Journey of Reproductive Life [by Kate Sully]

Radiophonic Composition for: 

Making Waves [by Klitsa Antoniou]

Video editing: Kyriacos Kousoulides
Sound composition: Dimitris Savva
Voice narration and singing: Agnese Banti

Curator Sozita Goudouna,
Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery, New York
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, City University of New York
The Right to Silence? - shivagallery.org

Klitsa Antoniou's audiovisual work entitled "Something Exceedingly Strange is Happening this Spring" draws from Rosa Luxembourg's personal letters, written during her three-year imprisonment (1915-1918). These letters, in contrast to her political texts, constitute a psychograph; the psychograph of a person who, in order to overcome the suffering of confinement, seeks an "escape" from it. Thus, from the heterotopia of the prison, the German revolutionary is mentally transported to a utopia: to a botanical garden, where nightingales chirp and colorful flowers bloom. In these personal letters, Luxembourg describes in every detail colors and sounds; that is, those that are absent from her everyday life. In other words, she invents her own imaginary colorful world, which contrasts with the gloom of confinement, as a last act of resistance. Hence, Antoniou through an intermediate approach, draws from the letters of the emblematic activist, creating a short video. The artist, however, intentionally avoids depicting the "garden" of Luxembourg, as it is presented through her written narrative. Antoniou aims at penetrating in a deeply poetic way into the inner world and the mental mood of an emblematic woman during her imprisonment. The work of the Cypriot artist can be seen as an evocative, nonetheless a highly political commentary on the history of any kind of incarceration.

Konstantinos Argianas, Art Historian

'Planting' of the digital forest: Nina Sumarac

Animation and video editing / Motion research - collaboration: Marinos Savva / Nicos Synnos

Soundscape composition and recording: Dimitris Savva (recorded in Troodos Forest, Cyprus.)

Text: Dr Frosoulla Kofterou

The work 'I'll See You in the Trees' is a large surround-space installation, with animated audio-video work projected onto the gallery's walls illuminating the darkroom using four video projectors. The immense trees cover the walls entirely, accompanied by minimal animation with the effects of foliage moving in the breeze and pre-recorded audio taken from the sounds of the forest, all to make an illusion for visitors like they are stepping into the woods. As well, benches are provided for viewers to take their time to immerse themselves fully and mindfully into this experience.

As a sudden action, every half-hour, the audio changes, becoming more intense and dramatic, while the animated forest remains the same and continues moving peacefully in the breeze. The transition of the sound shifts from peace and harmony to the repetitive and disturbing sound of an axe repeatedly cutting the wood growing louder, followed by the alarming sounds of chainsaws cutting up the forest and a raging fire scorching the trees as a loud awaking call.

Soil, water in bags, lighting, soundscape
600 x 300 x 15
Soundscape 10 mins (loop)

Sound by Dimitris Savvas

Eutopia is a site-based installation with sound, based on the idea of the "great, ideal place" by exploring the notions of displacement, intimacy, temporality, nostalgia and memory. The ground was covered with soil and almost 2000 small bags of collected water.

Olga Doulkeridou 

Sculptures (max. high 1.90cm, min. high 70cm / white cement, mud, plaster, organic matter)
Soundscape, Lighting, Video installation
Soundscape 10 mins (loop),
Video: 20 mins (loop)
The Morgue Space, London, 2017

Sound by Dimitris Savvas

The installation is the second part of a philoshophical narration. A combination of soundscape, sculptures with their bases covered with organic matter and a second room with video installations attempt to activate questions on the notion of cultural, political and personal crisis. Using the sense of "place", in a way that human are confront with the evidence of their culture, the project attempts to create a bodily and sensorial experience, inviting the viewers to seek out the intimate values that form the meaning of their presence within it. The work examines our cotemporary world and its phenomena as archaeological findings in an abandoned space which is exempt from the problems that defined them. The visual outcomes of a gradual decay, corruption or destruction, permits the transformation of the elements in a way that becomes a tool to highlight the passing of time and to present the sense of a place in crisis.

Olga Doulkeridou 

Stage space: scene 1 (a fragmentary cavity created in a long run)

Theatrical Space - "amniotic song" (soundmass - croud - cloud song) sound composition: Dimitris Savva

Stage space: scene 2 ("amniotic sac-holy rooted)

The Journey of Reproductive Life (text written by Dr. Sofia Granados Aparici)

A collaborative project exploring the world of fertility between artist Kate Sully, composer Dimitris Savva and the research taking place in the Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine at The University of Sheffield.

Artistic Overview

After discussion and access into the laboratories with a number of scientists in the unit, I (Kate Sully) realised I needed to make three artworks in order to capture the essence of their research. As a mixed media artist I have been able to use a range of materials and techniques to explore this amazing scientific area. I am very keen to create pieces that engage the public to find out more about reproduction and to be aware of their own bodies whilst creating high quality pieces of art.

Fertilis

Using cutting edge imagery and coupled with its organic form, this piece explores the complex and fascinating world of fertility. The research makes clear that timing and signalling are paramount to generate the power needed to reproduce and in Fertilis a sense of repetition and coordination is emphasised. The piece is colourful and has a continuous network around the sculpture suggesting everything is connected and positive. It also reflects the intense research happening around us which is aiming to deeply understand the science of this busy intricate world of reproduction.

Effete

This artwork mirrors Fertilis in colour similarities and choice of imagery. However, this piece explores instead the disconnected world of infertility. The smaller colourful and appealing ring has no real connection to the outer sculpture, making it static and isolated. The use of more chaotic, disconnected elements are suggestive of the signals that have been perturbed. The multitude of needles and tubing are a link to the amount of disruptions that can happen in reproduction, some of them still poorly understood. This piece then reinforces the necessity for the research to unveil the mystery under these processes. 

Sperma

To make the research into Reproduction complete for this project, this artwork explores the world of sperm. Taking research imagery, form and scientific knowledge Sperma captures the characteristics as well as the potential issues that can happen. The lozenge shaped head is deliberately larger in comparison to the numerous 'tails' which can block its reproductive potential. The concentric hole in the head pertains to both the sense of imperfection and also of looking into cause and effect which the researchers are keen to do. The artwork is positioned on the wall to appear to be swimming or moving with some of the tails being damped or fastened suggesting dysfunction.

Scientific Overview

We (researchers based at the Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, The University of Sheffield)  reproductive scientists are constantly challenged by lab techniques that enables us to understand the world of fertility. Because our aim is to improve people's quality of life, we would like every individual to be aware of their own body. The link between a lab-based technique and a colourful abstract sculpture converge in a common aim: understanding and communicating how our body works. We believe in the power of visual art for communicating science and Kate Sully offers here the tools to discover the complex colours and shapes of the biology of Reproduction.

Fertilis

Fertility constitute a long journey of events and research is trying to find the answer to these questions: How the limited number of eggs in the ovary eventually start to grow, how sperm power themselves to travel across the female body, how the female body receives sperm and embryo signals to facilitate their travel and implantation, how the mother and the new born communicate with each other and how the new born develop in the female body during the process of pregnancy. Fertilis aims to depict the complexity of all these processes in the reproductive system where coordination of space and time are essential for the Reproductive journey.

Effete

When there is a dysregulation in any of the processes mentioned above, the reproductive journey is not as easy. Effete emphasises the necessity for a complete connection between processes to facilitate Reproduction: both women and men's bodies need to be ready and functioning properly. Because we scientists are aware of the diversity of the fertility status in the human population, our research is helping to develop multitude of strategies to facilitate the process of reproduction when needed.

Soundscape and sound-act composition: Dimitris Savva

The composition you can hear reflects the unknown everyday life of reproductive scientists in the laboratory. Detailed sounds of routinary lab activity such as liquid pipetting, centrifuges and incubators can be recognised, alongside the sound of specific machines that were used to generate the colourful fluorescent images in Fertilis, Effete and Sperma.