Irreversible Loop explores bodies in relation to extremely distant other, unknown microbiomes, glacial bodies in elemental environments. The artist actively immerses herself in cosmic impulses, seeking ways to loosen the anthropocentric orientation of contemporary civilisation. In August 2023, she ascended Triglav and Skuta, using microphones to eavesdrop the ancient sonorities of vanishing glaciers. The Triglav Glacier and the Skuta Glacier, Slovenia’s last remnants of glaciers, faced accelerated melting in September 2023. By the autumn of the same year, extreme temperature and precipitation fluctuations had almost completely eradicated them.

“As I sat with the glaciers on Skuta and Triglav, shivering with cold and expanded consciousness, I listened to the sacred breath of the mountains and the complex language of the ancient waters accumulated in the glacial body. A powerful intuition emerged:  the icy waters high in the mountains were bodies of cosmic transmission. As receivers of cosmic particles, the glaciers transmitted their own mysterious sonority – they were like cosmic radio. Up there, you feel it deeply through your body, akin to the inspired meteorologists and practitioners of ancient Greek oracle traditions, who used their resonant bodies and breath to eavesdrop on the earth and cosmos. The transition of ice into liquid water is instantaneous; in that moment, it reveals the ancient and unknown mysteries. When the glaciers disappear, silence remains.”

Performative field recordings of glaciers included sonic studies using vibration, electromagnetic, tectonic, surface, and underwater microphones. The collected (post)glacial textural and structural patterns form the foundation of the acousmatic composition. In the performance, glacial sonority will be expanded into the field of extended radio sonority, featuring a collaboration between OR poiesis and Nikos Sotirelis. 

Photo: Matej Tomažin, Cona.

OR poiesis [Petra Kapš], artist, composer, and researcher in the fields of bio-, geo-, and hydro-acoustics, merges elemental life and the secrets of the Earth with Arte Sonora, experimental music, and visual-performative practices. Petra is a co-curator of BIOM micro-editions, a member of the JATA C bioacoustic group, and a founding member of the Central European Network for Sonic Ecologies (CENSE).

Acknowledgment: Mag. Miha Pavšek, Anton Melik Geographical Institute, ZRC SAZU, Gregor Gošnjak
Support: Ministry of Culture, Municipality of Maribor