Nodar Flowlines

 My interest was to carry out a sonic and visual survey of the landscape around the village of Nodar through a series of site-specific recording sessions. In particular I attempted to compare and contrast the geographic lines caused by the natural water flows towards the river at the bottom of the valley (Paiva and Sonzo) versus the man-made aqueduct that transverses the vertical lines and brings water into the village.While both of these phenomenarely on natural forces, one was created for a specific purpose,for use by the local inhabitants.

Using this theme of natural flow lines, I constructed a series of distinct audio-visual “narratives” based on the two types of landscapes shaped by water and humans.The surveys included recording methods that stemmed from the types of flow, that is, I draw inspiration from the behavior patterns of how the flows shape the landscape.

The base sound material relied on the interaction of ambient sounds, found objects, (natural and man-made materials), and human intervention (improvisation and installation). The visual material focused on still shots of micro and macro materials and forms in conjunction with the location based activity. The recorded documents were catalogued and edited after ward into semi-composed works that reflect and show the “flowlines” locations and process around Nodar.

Project sponsors: Eesti Kultuurkapital, Binaural/Nodar,MoKS.

John Grzinich is a mixed-media artist who has worked primarily with sound composition,performance and installation since the early 1990s. He has performed and worked on projects extensively throughout Europe and the US and has published a number of CDs of his compositions on such labels as Staalplaat (NL), Edition Sonoro (UK), SIRR (PT), CUT (CH), CMR (NZ),erewhon (BE), Intransitive Recordings (US), Orogenetics (US), Elevator Bath (US), Pale-Disc (JP),Digital Narcis (JP), and Cloud of Statics (CH).

Currently John is a project and media lab coordinator for MoKS–Center for Art and Social Practice, an artist-run international residency center and project space in southeast Estonia.

ARTISTIC WORKS