This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast features the work of Maja Zećo. In September 2022, Maja negotiated Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods from Corby town centre, Northamptonshire, as Silencer.
Silencer is a performance in a sensory impairment soundwalking suit complete with earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones. Where Maja experienced the environment in complete silence the suit made ‘the other’ visible in public while concealing gender, body shape and voice. At once both a playful intervention and an unexpected encounter, the work has connotations of protective clothing and social distancing that speak to larger fears of walking through woodland spaces.
At the heart of this work are two very important questions: “Who is listening?” and “Who is performing?”
Listeners are advised to listen with headphones as this is a binaural mix.
The following episode features themes that might be triggering for some listeners and contains strong language which may be unsuitable or offensive.
A transcript of the episode is available here.
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The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.
Maja Zećo is an interdisciplinary artist who creates immersive art through performance, sound art, video and installation. Born in Sarajevo (Bosnia) and resident in Aberdeen, many of her works investigate sonic phenomena through performance art where she explores her relationship with place and ways in which soundscapes shape our sense of belonging, identity and locality.
For Xylophobia our guest curators for the Fermynwoods Podcast are Marie-Chantal Hamrock and Astrid Björklund. Marie and Astrid have previously collaborated as SUBTERRA for Aerial Community Radio in Aberdeen, which “navigates speculative narratives of the chthonic (of relating to or inhabiting the underworld) through text, poetry, soundscapes and music.” The two bring their own flavour to a new series of 10 Xylophobia-themed Podcast episodes.
Sapphire Goss is a multimedia artist who uses obsolete technologies to explore experimental materiality and hybrid collaborative forms to make work that grows, decays and lives beyond the screen. Sapphire responds to each Xylophobia podcast episode with a new video.