Common residency - Alix Van Ripato and Marcin Sobolev
Week 1
We begin our residency with the theme of Playtime. We discover the city, observing its details, spaces, abandoned or rehabilitated places. Japanese inspiration from our past trip...
We want to create
1/ a sculpture in the public space, coloured (Japanese colours) and made of metal.
2/ an ambient soundtrack based on Field Recording from Japan that would be activated at the inauguration and listenable online, perhaps with a physical output (audio cassette?).
Week 2
We discover Ferro Forum. We immediately wanted to collaborate with them and work with Luxembourg materials and tools (Robin paint, etc.).
> Development of a first version of the sculpture with modules. First draft with 9 elements: the tree, the mountain, the moon, the sun, the smoke, the water, the grass, the rock and the torii.
Week 3
Meeting with Ferro Forum. Possible collaboration. Future partnership and learning alongside them. Planning the final version to keep material requirements in mind.
Week 4
Redefinition of the sculpture as a whole to meet the constraints of the public space and create a more coherent project. We remove several elements in order to simplify production and reduce the risk of assembly failure. > Aesthetic simplification.
Week 5
Order materials for the sculpture.
Final elements of the sculpture: the rock, the cave, the water, the sun, nature and the mountain.
Start of the sound work
Research work, selections and re-cutting to obtain samples (Field Recording) as a basis for developing the pieces. Estimate: pieces united and playable as a whole = 40 minutes => 6 pieces. 7 minutes per piece approx. 1 piece developed for an element of the sculpture.
> A sort of sonic journey that makes the pieces that make up the sculpture sing.
The order in which the piece unfolds will be
1/ Cave 2/ Nature 3/ Water 4/ Mountain 5/ Rock 6/ Sun
Writing a scenario to develop the piece: an initiatory journey through the natural elements represented in the sculpture, a sort of spiritual quest in several stages. Ambient music punctuated by field recordings.
Week 6
Creation of the sound. The plan is to make it accessible to the public via a QR code on a label near the sculpture, linking to a SoundCloud. But also edition of 50 audio cassettes.
Side A: Part 1, bringing together the passages from the cave to nature and then to water.Side B: Part 2, a journey between mountain, rock and sun.
Each element develops a particular sound universe. The sound evolves continuously over approximately 20 minutes.
Receipt of the metal plates at Ferro Forum. Idea of documenting the entire production of the sculpture in silver and black-and-white film to enable possible photographic prints for archiving and documentation. Recording sounds in the factory with the zoom, especially for archiving. Perhaps include 2 minutes of this sound in the cassette, side B?
Preparation and production of the video interview in our workshops at the Bridderhaus.
Week 7
Continuation of the sound and elaboration of the other pieces: result of the mountain and the rock.Preparing the work for Ferro Forum: 1:1 scale drawings of the 6 elements on sheets as large as the 3m by 1.50m metal plates. This is meticulous work that requires concentration. It's impossible to cross out a line, because the Ferro Forum machine can only read a thick black line on a white background with its eye, and will follow it to the letter. 3 drawings of the 6 elements to be cut out.
Work begins at FerroForum. Meeting with the team and immediate collaboration. The metal plates were cut using an old laser machine. We received our 6 shapes the same day. Work begins on polishing the edges of the shapes.
Week 8
Continuing the work at Ferro Forum: learning at each work session the technique for correctly rounding the edges of the parts. It's not as easy as all that: you have to go over it several times before you get a satisfactory result. You see the pieces being completed little by little: once the pieces are finished, you realise the size of the final sculpture. It's quite impressive.
Evening meeting in our workshops and presentation of our project to the public. A general explanation of the project and its stages, the link with FerroForum and presentation of the first part of the sound. It's a very pleasant way of taking stock of the work we've done.
Week 9
Finalising the sculpture: the last element to which we've rounded the edges. The sculpture will be finished in May for an inauguration in mid-June for the Bridderhaus OpenHaus.
Finalising the sound: creating the last piece. Recording of the entire soundtrack. Listening to the recordings at FerroForum and editing the sound obtained by Field Recording for the B side of the cassette.Graphic design of the audio cassette cover. Uploading the tracks to SoundCloud and creating a QR code for permanent listening by the public.
End of residency. Return scheduled for mid-May.