Fonendoskop
Eva Vozárová
The Collective ooo is a collaborative effort of musician, teacher and intermedia artist Fero Király and dramaturg, artist and researcher Eva Vozárová. Our curatorial and artistic approach stems from our hope for all living entities on this planet, even though we live in a time of the sixth biggest extinction of species in history. Our endeavours revolve around projects that delve into the intricate relationships between humans and non-humans, encompassing the fields of sound art, acoustic ecology, deep listening, environmental and social issues, as well as disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, urban matters, mathematics, and others. We hold a preference for considerate and subtle artistic interventions.
In 4 years of its existence, ooo has realised more than 70 artistic, curatorial, and educational projects, among other: the curation of the annual intermedia art event JAMA.ooo, awarded the White Cube award by the Slovak Galleries Council in 2023 for the best independent project; realisation of sound installations and sound interventions, organisation of intermedia art exhibitions (among others, in collaboration with the Slovak National Gallery; the realisation of iconic work of electroacoustic music I Am Sitting in a Room by Alvin Lucier, presented throughout Slovakia and the Czech Republic; and presentation of the project Fonendoskop at Beyond Listening Symposium organised by CENSE in Budapest in 2023. Most recently, Fero Király composed the music and authored the performance for the Slovak exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2024 – The Floating Arboretum by Oto Hudec.
Cities, villages, dwellings, administrative buildings, factories, shops, and infrastructure are creations of one of the animal species on this planet. In essence, they are no different from beaver dams, stork nests, or anthills. They are equally a part of nature, a natural expression of one animal species, its image, reflection, and also a medium from which much can be deduced. They have their own design, system, smell – and sound. The prevailing narrative of Homo sapiens sapiens is the idea of our dominance and entitlement to separating ourselves from "the others." What do the places through which we change the planet say about us and the context of our impact on Earth?
Fonendoskop (Slovak word for stethoscope) is a tool with a resonator used for examining a patient by listening. Our listening and examining object is a micro-place – an interior, a building, an anthropocentric structure, significant for its location, history, former or current function in the city – and its sounds, states, and relationships in which it operates. Our subject is the relationship between man and the (acoustic) environment that surrounds him. We listen, examine, diagnose, create a map, find a position, and try to recalibrate the vector in the context of acoustic ecology.
Fonendoskop is an ongoing authorial and research project by collective ooo and is a part of our Sound Topographies series. The series stems from dissatisfaction with the anthropocentric perspective, which – asserting humanity as dominators of the planet – burdens us and fosters a sense of powerlessness amidst climate crisis and social disparities. Fonendoskop delves into ecological relationships in the context of cities through intersectional exploration of soundscapes of various urban environments: public spaces, peripheries, wildlife(s), buildings and architecture.
With support by LINA we aim to make Fonendoskop a part of the Basel Architecture Week in collaboration with the Soundcamp Cooperative and SAM.