The Seeing Ear - Sound Object and Instalations II - In the work of Slovak graphic artists, sound objects appear for the first time in the 1960s. These are above all the early audio-kinetic sculptures and environments by Milan Dobeš (1929); a light-kinetic production is accompanied by manipulated sound on the basis of the synchronization of impulses (for instance in Pulzujúci rytmus [The Pulsating Rhythm], 1963). Later Dobeš wrote a special light-kinetic program for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra to accompany symphonic compositions by T. Mayazumi and Krzysztof Penderecki (a series of concerts in the United States in 1971). In 1969, Alex Mlynárčik (1934) in his homage to Constantin Brâncuşi used plastic eggs that emitted ringing sounds after being set in motion by spectators. This interactive environment – changing, through a visitor’s gesture, not merely the constellation of objects but also the acoustic quality of space – was presented by Mlynárčik at the Apollinaire gallery in Milan, Italy, titled Flirt slečny Pogany [Miss Pogana’s Flirt]. A year later, in Mlynárčik’s cooperation with Miroslav Filip and Viera Mecková, Mlynárčik’s project Akustikon [Acousticon] is begun but left unfinished; it had been intended as a programmed musical instrument whose sound depended on the movement of the spectator on an ascending and descending spiral. Employing interconnections of music and graphic art, Milan Adamčiak (1946) and Róbert Cyprich (1951-1996) realized several action-based acoustic projects. These included the musical component of Alex Mlynárčik’s event Trenie [Chafing] (1969 in the High Tatras), and in 1970, their independent musical project Vodná hudba [Water Music] that modernized Georg Friedrich Händel’s original composition; together with Jozef Revallo, the piece was performed at the indoor swimming-pool of the college dormitory Juraja Hronca in Bratislava. Adamčiak independently created the musical components of Jana Želibská’s event Snúbenie jari [Spring Unions] (in Dolné Orešany, 1970) and for Jarmila Čihánková’s Žltý environment [The Yellow Environment] (at the exhibition Polymúzický priestor I. in Piešťany, 1970), while Cyprich participated in Mlynárčik’s project Tri grácie [Three Graces] (at the I. Otvorený ateliér in Bratislava, 1970). In 1968 during the international exhibition Danuvius ’68, Stanislav Filko (1937) created the synthetic environment Katedrála humanizmu [A Cathedral of Humanism] that utilized concrete music (sounds reproducing radio broadcast). In the 1960s and 1970s, sound objects are frequently accompanied by action, happenings, and performances; they become parts of the environments without allowing the sound to become a dominant and inseparable part of the work. At the Polymúzický priestor I. exhibition in Piešťany in 1970 (concept by L. Kár), several projects were mounted that featured sound and music as their significant parts. There was the sculpturesque object in the shape of a clattering mill (Súkolie času [The Wheelwork of Time]) by Vladimír Môťovský (1928); Andrej Goliáš (1937) with the help of self-composed music created an archaic Obydlie [A Dwelling-Place]; Stanislav Filko let water stream through water pumps, as an idiosyncratic imitation of water plays and singing fountains; and optophonic space consisting of the synchronization of visual, acoustic, and architectural elements was presented by Ivan Štěpán (1937-1986).
In the 1980s and especially 1990s, sound objects become an attractive model for activities bordering graphic art and music. Milan Adamčiak, returning to the forefront of creative artists, is the leading representative of this line. At the exhibition Suterén [The Basement] (Bratislava, 1989) he presents an extensive installation consisting of sound objects and musical instruments constructed primarily from found materials. Adamčiak now sees himself in the position to initiate the founding of the Transmusic comp. ensemble (Peter Machajdík, Michal Murin, Peter Cón, Martin Burlas, Peter Horváth, Juraj Bartusz and others, 1989–1996); in over a hundred unrepeated performances, musical theatre concerts, and events, the ensemble utilizes Adamčiak’s home-made instrument cabinet along with Peter Strassner’s (1954) acoustic sculptures and furniture. One of the largest sound objects oscillating between a sound object and a conceptual visual acoustic installation was the Travelling Art Museum – Hudobné ekofakty a artefakty od eocénu až po futorocén [Travelling Art Museum – Musical Ecofacts and Artifacts from the Eocene to the Futurocene] produced for the symposium Kép-Ze-Let at the Mining Museum in Tatabánya (1997, Hungary) as a project by the Slovak artistic duo LENGOW & HEyeRMEarS. A number of authors create silenced acoustic objects, destroyed and decomposed musical instruments, or their quotations that frequently are remainders from a performance. On the other hand, due to their acoustic qualities some sculptures and objects may be utilized for musical production (Transmusic comp. and Juraj Meliš’s sculptures); interactive acoustic objects are produced as well (Miloš Boďa / Juraj Ďuriš: Schrattenbergský škriatok [The Schrattenberg Sprite], 1991).
Starting in the early 1960s, one may observe a tendency of meetings of activities of graphic artists and composers (Daniel Fischer – Ilja Zelenka, 1979 and 1993; Svetozár Ilavský – Svetozár Ilavský, since 1991; Miloš Štofko – Martin Burlas, 1994; Viktor Hulík – Peter Machajdík, 1993; Bohuš Kubínsky and Monika Kubínska – Iris Szeghy, 1995; Jaroslav Drotár – Marek Piaček, 1995; Dorota Sadovská – Daniel Matej, 1997). What is missing in such cooperation is the mutual inseparability of the visual and acoustic components that characterizes sound objects or acoustic environments. A similar problem was faced by the meetings of music and traditionally mounted paintings in the cycle of exhibitions and concerts Obraz a hudba [Picture and Music] (1989–90) organized by Ivan Jančár and Zuzana Martináková, and in the Dotyky a Spojenia [Touch to Connect] projects that followed Ladislav Snopko’s and Zuzana Bartošová’s concepts (1985–1989, relaunched in 1997). The 9th instalment of the project (1988) introduced the CUCU ensemble (Igor Kalný and Jozef Schottl) that had performed its Fluxus-like concerts in 1983 and later recorded them on an LP. Similar activities may be observed in the cooperation of Peter Machajdík and Michal Murin in concerts (the festival Days of Alternative Art in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, 1987) and together with Jozef Vlk in the project Pamiatky a súčasnosť [Monuments and the Present Age] (1987). The concept of acoustic environments is employed by Michal Murin in his projects Hry hier [Games of Games], 1985, Vizuálna kompozícia [A Visual Composition], 1987 (produced in Perth, Australia, in 1989), and Simultánne improvizácie [Simultaneous Improvisations] (music bridge Perth – Bratislava, 1989) with an installation in an acoustically conditioned elevator; equally in his projects Zemná hudba [Earth Music] (as part of Pamiatky a súčasnosť in 1986) and Archeomusic (1992) in which Murin uses natural material (wood, leaves, soil, straw) for creating sound objects brought into play during performances.
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Since 1995, interactive acoustic objects have consistently been presented to the public in the cycle of international exhibitions SOUND OFF, prepared annually by Spoločnosť pre nekonvenčnú hudbu [The Society For Unconventional Music] (SNEH) in alternative exhibition locations. In the Piano Hotel exhibition (curator Michal Murin) in 1997, five prepared pianos along with their parts were presented as acoustic objects (Viktor Lois, Otis Laubert, Milan Adamčiak, and Jozef Cseres). A year later Ross Bolleter’s CD Left Hand of the Universe was published in Australia, featuring compositions first heard in the multimedia performance on sound objects originally created for the Piano Hotel exhibition. In 1998, the theme of the SOUND OFF exhibition was the violin; the initiative eventually led to the moving of Rosenberg’s Museum (curator Jozef Cseres) to Slovakia to the village of Violín. A museum in which visual and acoustic objects are used as the object “violin” was founded by the Australian violinist Jon Rose who employs state-of-the-art technologies in his musical performances (Ars Electronica, Linz, 1996). In 1999 in cooperation with the Japanese musician Yoshihide Otom, the duo LENGOW & HEyeRMEarS created an extensive acoustic installation titled WARHOLES on the premises of the permanent exhibition at Andy Warhol’s Museum of Modern Art in Medzilaborce (Eastern Slovakia).
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