Martyna Poznańska

Speculative Resonances is an installation which arose as a result of a four months research on listening and hearing as a bodily experience in the urban environment of my surroundings, between  October 2015 and February 2016. It was presented during the Sound Studies Berlin Arts University (UdK) Masters Exhibition between 5th-7th February 2016 in Berlin.

 

During the research process I was performing five practices: listening, recording, writing, photographing and reading, which were documented in the form of a sonic diary, consisting of: texts, photographs and field recordings.

 

In the installation I presented an old desk with three drawers and a stool with a used carpet underneath. Each of the single drawers separately contained 30 excerpts from the texts, in a form of handwritten cards, 30 fragments of photographs in a form of print outs, and field recordings stored on 30 audio-cassettes (the recordings varied between 30 seconds and 2,5 minutes).

 

On the desk I placed a small desk lamp, a photograph in a frame (15x21) and a Sony walkman with a pair of headphones attached to it. The visitor could also find instructions to read in an envelope next to the other three items.

 

Visitors were recommended to choose one item from each of the drawers and contemplate them together for as long as they wished. This procedure could be repeated as many times as the visitors liked

 

The objective of the installation was to present the undertaken research in a form of a personal archive – a collection accessible for others to experience. Through establishing an intimate relationship between the visitor and the chosen items, a speculative resonance, in a form of a poetic image, emerged within the body of the visitor, which could be taken away when they left.