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The MoKS Residency

 An article by Jay-Dea Lopez

During November-December 2013 I had the privilege of staying at the MoKS residency in the small village of Mooste, Estonia. This part of the world was only known to me through the recordings and words of John Grzinich yet the sounds presented by him were unique enough to pique my interest.

After almost 12 months of saving the money needed to fly out of Australia (and having gained the strength to sit in the economy section for nearly 30 hours) I boarded the plane to Estonia with a set of goals and targets. I especially wanted to record the sounds of a northern European winter landscape: the sounds of ice cracking, snow falling, microscopic life forms burrowing beneath the frozen earth – all of these being absent from my own sub-tropical region in Australia.

I also hoped to be granted a space in which I could work undisturbed on a number of projects not related to Estonia. To borrow a phrase from Virginia Woolf I imagined myself having “a room of one’s own”, a creative space free from the demands of work and other distractions.

I will admit that before my arrival I needed to educate myself about Estonia. There were little things to learn such as its location on a map; the food (did the thousands of images of blood sausage mean that as a vegan I would starve to death … and therefore avoid the 30 hour flight back home?); homophobia  (did its close proximity to Russia mean that the locals would chase after me with pitchforks?).

Upon my arrival it turned out that these were to be the least of my concerns. My luggage with my recording equipment and warm clothes were lost in transit (thanks Air Berlin!) so my first experience in Estonia was to fill in a lost luggage claim at Tallinn airport at midnight. Although I was slightly MORTIFIED at the time it did allow me the opportunity to wander around Tallinn without feeling the pressure to record anything. I felt uneasy about how much I was enjoying not recording anything, as if I were not a true field recorder. Oh well.

Days later at the Mooste residency (reunited with my now slightly battered luggage, thanks again Air Berlin) I realised that my recording objectives needed to be reassessed. Due to a late winter in Estonia there was a lack of thick snow and ice. What I had hoped to record simply didn’t exist. This meant that my microphones needed to be directed towards other sound-sources. Turning from the natural world I instead focussed on the telecommunications infrastructure within the village of Mooste. It was with these objects that I filled my time at MoKS.

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Massive towers dominate Mooste’s skyline – their support cables vibrate at a frequency that would go unheard if not for the placement of contact microphones on their metal bodies. The cables hum hypnotically, eternally, providing an experience that is uniquely exhilarating and disturbing. Local farmers watched (suspiciously?) from a distance. I fumbled nervously with the microphone cables.

The ease of access to these sounding objects was a highlight of my stay in Mooste. Listening to them filled me with wonder at the unexpected tones that can occur when the natural elements interact with the manufactured; I learned the value of listening within the moment without a sense of anticipation; I was also filled with admiration towards the technology that has made this type of listening and recording possible.

Although living in Mooste wasn’t always easy the majority of my experiences made the time and expense to get there worthwhile. Field recordings made during my residency can be listened to here.

Jay-Dea Lopez website

 


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3 responses to “375”

  1. Simon Whetham Avatar

    important note: i just want to tell everyone this following the news that jay-dea had his luggage ‘disappear’ on him for a few days.

    if you are carrying lots of electronics, both equipment and components, plus anything such as adhesives and liquids (i carry plastidip regularly now), tell the check in staff when you put your luggage on the scales.

    i got this information through an old modelmaking contact working overseas with electronics for museum installations. if you tell them there is equipment and/or fragile objects, the airline have another luggage check point where they scan by hand or more specialist machine, and your bag SHOULD arrive safely.

    if you don’t tell them, some airport scanners will see your gear, assume it’s dangerous – don’t underestimate worldwide paranoia – and it gets taken off the belt well before the plane, sometimes not discovered for over an hour…

    be warned my friends!!
    simon

    sorry for hijacking your post jay-dea and glad you had a good time at moks… i really need to get back there myself!

  2. soundlandscapes Avatar

    Thanks for this summary of your MoKS trip JD. I followed your blog while you were over there and much enjoyed listening to the sounds you recorded not only at MoKS but in Venice too. I really hope that you will be producing a compilation or a CD of the work you did there.

    As for losing your luggage – I once flew from Tokyo to Paris and my luggage washed up in Istanbul! And, just to add a note to Simon’s comment – If you think negotiating security with recording equipment is hazardous you should try it with a heart pacemaker! I can’t begin to tell you the adventures I’ve had – all of them bad!

  3. soundslikenoise Avatar

    Thanks for your comments. You’ve both posted some very worthwhile information for all of us travelling with equipment of any type. I’ll know better next time!

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