Anna Zaradny. SOUNDLESS

exhibition booklet

Silence and the sound ontology problem, which arises out of the lack of sound, are central fields of interests of contemporary musicians. Moreover, they allow one to look behind the historic veil of structured discourse. Among various silence conceptualization methods the most intriguing ones treat it as a lack of sound, a kind of negative space. For centuries, the substance of stillness itself was not considered to be the part of the classical spectrum of music. The visual arts are akin to concept of whiteness, which is a barrier every painter has to overcome. However, the case for silence proves, that the whiteness of music was totally neglected. The revolution erupted in the middle of the 20th century. Artists boldly realized projects convincing beholders of the fact, that silence is not an empty matter. On the contrary, it may be analysed on many different planes.

Anna Zaradny’s SOUNDLESS contemplates the essence of music, consciously stripping it from its aural characteristics. The display consists of polymedial works trickling down on one’s senses. However, spectators will not be given any sound, apart from the one they can imagine. This strategy is consistent. It uses phantom sound, stimulating viewers’ minds to create unique internal aural experiences. The artist herself conducts a broad rhythmic study, which display the expressive properties of gestures. Her works seem to form a consistent choreographic blueprint forcing viewers to study the concepts of the score and notation even more rigorously. Starting from the traditional western music notation, Zaradny proceeds through completely new techniques, which allow to capture the reality in a more plastic way (taking full account of spatial and performative components). The score is a neutral medium no more, but a full blown artistic object.

Zaradny’s works displayed at the gallery may be considered an exemplary model of contextual practise. Every separate work of art is a part of a much broader concept realized through many mediums, resulting in a sophisticated map of meaning. They emerge from a specific combination of mediums and materials, as well as an intertextual dialogue with particular cultural creations. The usage of such means lets the artists form an effect of a rapid spatial movement. The web embraces artist’s achievements and her dialogues with other creators. The result is a perfect illustration of an internal acting dynamism.

Another aspect of the presentation is a deep psycho-social and political theming of silence. Many works contain a figure purged of sound. It is a metaphor of submission or exclusion. Zaradny acts as a critique of the patriarchal model of the world, sometimes subversively silencing or even symbolically castrating the masculine factor. With extreme precision, she plays with the flickering references of identity and dominance, which results in an ambiguous piling up of meanings forming the conceptual framework of the exposition.