Sound installation, 2024 AUDINT’s sound installation Cicada Sound System explores the waveformed fears and anxieties surrounding Havana Syndrome — a series of “anomalous health incidents” in US embassies that started in Cuba in 2016 which subsequently occurred in India, China, and Europe. Many of the embassy staff have reported suffering chronic symptoms such as issues with balance and cognition, insomnia, and headaches. The causes of the syndrome are still unknown but that has not stopped a plethora of explanations being forwarded, ranging from ultrasonic and microwave weapons to mass hysteria to cicadas. Many of the rationales presented by scientists, political theorists and politicians have attributed the medical conditions to insidious covert activities carried out by unidentified foreign actors.

Lovers 2015. Oil on canvas, 70×100 cm No Doubts 2014. Oil on canvas, 57.5×40 cm Tired Father 2007. Oil on fiberboard, 80×80.7 cm Mother Nature 2010. Oil on canvas, 54.5×37.5 cm Doubts 2014. Oil on canvas, 57.5×40 cm Untitled 2021. Acrylic on fiberboard, 40×5 cm each A strong empathy with the viewer is a prominent feature of Jama's research. His artistic images are expressive and clear — anthropomorphic masks and zoomorphic figures, reflecting anxiety and frustration, with grotesque expressions that have a strong ironic and sarcastic component. But is it really that simple? In this case, empathy is a tool for emotional engagement. When we interact with these paintings we turn first to ourselves — this inner exploration becomes the primary focus of our reflection on the work. What does it mean today to deal with the daily fatigue and routine of habits and relationships? How do we cope with fear and doubt? After all, we live in a world of uncertainty, built on unstable foundations and mediated by confusing visions of the future. The paintings present a face or bust in a static expression, such as that of Mother Nature, but actually reflect an internal emotional dynamic, such as the dreamy and tired father struggling with the little daily nightmares of parenthood. In the diptych Doubts — No doubts, the protagonist is a rabbit, similar to the anxious Lovers wrestling with his shadow (or shadows) in a manner reminiscent of Faust. Here, the dynamic of waking life is disturbed, as the protagonist's fixity corresponds to the intense dynamism of his shadow, making it impossible for him to perceive and control reality objectively. The new works, small sculptures made of glue and wood, have a cheerful vibrancy, while the distorted faces on the narrow acrylic panels of 2021 might be seen as a fitting companion to Paolo Mantegazza's Atlas of Expressions of Pain (1876). This is not in the context of physical pain, but rather as a sign of the anxiety and fear that Jama captures in people struggling with a pandemic. — Silvia Burini, Giuseppe Barbieri

Sound Installation, 2003–2015 6 boxes, peepholes, audio players, headphones, photographs Engineer: Alexey Grachev Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab By peering into a peephole and listening to distant sounds, we inadvertently recreate the reality in our memory, balancing on the verge of presence and absence, visible and invisible. The image is here and, at the same time, it greets us from some distance — as the sound of ocean contained in a seashell. The opacity of a visual picture — here a black and white photograph, altered by the optics of the peephole and as if “enlivened”, and the vagueness of sounds presumes that the spectator would involve his own archives and drag up his own feelings and associations from the nooks and crannies of his memory. And the less real and “anecdotal” the story about the reality is, the more plausible it sounds. In Belova’s Archive, the memory of the body is evoked through sound. Here, the artist invites each visitor to peer through peepholes in uniform wooden boxes and discover found photographs of entry halls leading into old Saint Petersburg buildings. Each box is equipped with a set of headphones, connecting the viewer with the sounds of life in each of the represented buildings — the casual hum of music, the quick fall of steps, fragments of conversations, the slow drip of water through aging pipes. The physical infrastructure of the box creates an infinite distance between the viewer and the viewed — audio-technology becomes the primary tool that bridges this gap, connecting the vision to the body and creating a nostalgic reminder of a particular time and place.

Selection of records from CAA, 2013 — ongoing. 8 directional speakers, Apple iPod Nano players with custom controller, plexiglass Engineer: Alexey Grachev, Sergei Komarov Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab The CYLAND Audio Archive (CAA) is a division of CYLAND MediaArtLab, created to investigate archiving and exhibiting methodologies of sound art. This archive is a continuous process of working on a structure of various subgenres of sound art, making compilations, and cataloging the growing archive. To date, there are 58 releases, including works by more than 80 artists from every continent except Antarctica. All the records are available for listening on cyland.bandcamp.com. Each release presented is a stand-alone piece accompanied by an artist statement. Eight directional speakers distributed evenly in a hall will play eight carefully selected CAA releases in a loop. These sound spots inevitably overlap, turning into a constant humming, all while sharing one space. Source material for artists varies from existing records — personal or found — filed records, machine signals, or sounds extracted from revitalised devices, which were initially completely strange to sound creation in the first place and turned into sound machines. All of them are reflected and conceptualised by artists, collected together into a contradictory and rich picture of sound to memorise and fix the experience of being present in the world. Where sound — recognised or completely strange — will escape being fully possessed but remains an environment shared by people who heard it together. That is how memories form, building blocks for infinite variations of archives. — Sergei Komarov and Lidiia Griaznova Selection of Records for CYFEST 16 in Yerevan: CAA—11 Anthony Bisset CAA—13 Sashash Ulz CAA—21 Alexey Grachev CAA—22 ZOV CAA—25 Rumore Bianco CAA—55 Michele Spanghero CAA—48 Wouter Van Veldhoven CAA—42 Makiko Yamamoto

Interactive object, 2024 3D modelling, 3D printing, welding, laser cutting; Arduino; paper shredder, plexiglass, steel, fan, paper Engineers: Denis Markov, Alexey Grachev Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab Imagine our psyche as a delicate sheet of paper, passed through the shredder of time and experience. Each event leaves its mark, tearing our sense of self into countless pieces. Then, like a gust of wind from a fan, our memories are swept up and swirled around, mixing and mingling until they become almost unrecognizable. As we attempt to retrieve these fragmented memories, we may find that only snippets remain intact. Perhaps it's the warmth of a sunny afternoon, the sound of laughter in the air, or the sting of a painful loss. These “extraits” serve as glimpses into the past, offering tantalizing hints of the emotions we once felt. But as time marches on, even these fragments can become blurred and distorted. Like a tornado gathering strength, our memories twist and turn, reshaping themselves with each passing day. What was once crystal clear may now be muddled and indistinct, clouded by the passage of time and the haze of our own perceptions. Despite the inevitable erosion of memory, there is a beauty in the chaos of our archive of feelings. It is a testament to the richness of human experience, the complexity of emotion, and the resilience of the human spirit. Our memories may be imperfect, but they are uniquely ours, shaped by the ebb and flow of life itself. So, as we navigate the labyrinth of our memories, let us embrace the fragments, the whirlwinds, and the tornadoes. For within their swirling depths lies the essence of who we are, a kaleidoscope of feelings and impressions that make us truly human.

Installation, 2024 Kineographs, robotics, mixed media Engineers: Philipp Avetisov, Eugene Pavlov, Eugene Ovsyannikov, Dmitry Shirokov Supported by CYLAND MediaArtLab 30 years ago, when I just came to the United States, one of my first jobs was at a photographic store. Among the services offered, there were development of B/W films copying and retouching of old photographs. During several years of work, hundreds of images passed through my hands and, whether you like it or not, what you saw becomes a part of you. I came upon images from various times: 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Mainly, those were individual, family and group photographs, portraits of the military and pictures from the Victorian Age when photographs were done with the deceased family members in them. There were some curious incidents: once I was handed an envelope with photographs that contained a note: “Be careful. The photos are really old; they date back to 1715.” (Daguerreotype, by the way, was invented in 1839). Those images stuck in my memory. What astounded me was the fact that practically all the images were alike. It is interesting that, despite the geographic origins of those who were depicted on a photograph, it was impossible to determine where they were from (unless the architecture got captured in a frame). It was impossible to figure out whether they were immigrants from Armenia, Russia, Sweden, Italy or Ireland. It was also impossible to determine on the photographs from different countries where they were taken at the time. Scientists claim that if the brain saw something, it would stay with it for the rest of one's life. However, the fore-conscious* plays its role as well… * Fore-Conscious is a term that indicates the perceptions, thoughts and memories that, while not being part of our current conscious experience, are still remain available for comprehension.

Installation, 2013 Video [00:09:53, color, sound, loop]; projector, speakers, LED light, industrial fan, controller, AC dimmer; buffalo snow, threads, photographies from personal archives of Ivan Govorkov (Russia), unknown owner (USA), unknown owner (Armenia); QR codes linked to videos by Elena Gubanova and Anna Frants Engineer: Alexey Grachev Supported by CYLAND Media Art Lab What were you doing in the winter of 1980? And in the summer? And what made the winter of 2009 memorable for you? What image will first come to mind late in life if you are to close your eyes? The project Weather Forecast — WINTER/SUMMER is an attempt by the artists to reflect on the paradox of time that is slow and, at the same time, transient. Winter….summer…..winter….summer….

Video installation, 2022 Video [00:00:00, sound, loop]; 40" screen, headphones Director and editor: Wei Gao Sound: Shepard tone The train moves fast through the tunnel while roaming inside one flower after another. The film combines the footage of the subway tunnels and the still photographs of flowers, allowing them to interact. Watching this film is like embarking on a psychedelic cosmic journey. In fast motion, particles of various colors rush towards the viewer. The screen is like a black hole, as if there is a gravity sucking the audience into the tunnel. The audience seems to experience passing through clusters of colorful nebulae, and also like crossing through a microscopic world. The flowers in the background are from still images made by the director. The sound of Flower Tunnel uses Shepard tone, to make an unworldly effect of perpetual motion.

Installation, 2024 Metal, wax, ants, epoxide, plexiglass, hourglass The Ring of Death represents an effort to make participants experience life cycle transformations through an installation. It is a large carousel-like wheel featuring intricate inner mechanisms, reflective surfaces, epoxy layers, melting wax figures, and living ants that will gradually utilize these elements over time. At the center of the wheel lies an hourglass, symbolizing the passage of time, while the art object itself is a manually operated rotating structure. The fast rotation stirs up memories, mixing the vibrant childhood experiences and the fleeting nature of human life. Among the insects that form the core of my art, ants are the most prevalent, representing the significance of the animal kingdom and nature. These creatures act as nature’s custodians, symbolically transforming the human body over time. — Styopa Grigoryan

Installation, 2024 video [00:00:30, b/w, sound, loop], 6 screens, servomotor, heavyweight wool coat, hanger, carpet beater Engineers: Alexey Grachev, Denis Markov Video engineer: Anton Khlabov Supported by CYLAND MediaArtLab A man's life is but a moment in infinity — like dust floating in the stream of time. Turning to our memories, we seem to beat them out of ourselves like an old dusty coat, sometimes admiring their brightness, sometimes choking on their suffocating corrosiveness. Each of us comes into this world following our unique path, but in the end, we all return to our starting point — stardust. Understanding this, we can feel the vulnerability and significance of our existence. We are made of dust, but we are also a part of the dust of stars, of which we remain a part forever.

Installation with 10 LED matrices, 2019 LED Matrices (10 elements), custom electronics and software Concept and programming: Andreas Gysin and Sidi Vanetti Hardware engineering: Khalil Kababe Ten synchronised algorithmic animations, each running on an industrial LED matrix driven by the code residing on a custom controller. Each animation originates from — and reduces to — a line. Ten synchronised algorithmic animations, each running on an industrial LED matrix driven by the code residing on a custom controller. Each animation originates from — and reduces to — a line.

Interactive sound/video installation, 2010 Max/MSP; seesaw, Mac mini, projector, sound system, Arduino, IR sensor Coding assistance: Julio Terra, Alexey Grachev, Sergei Komarov See / Saw is an interactive movie. Viewers sit on a seesaw and use it to control movie scenes projected on a wall. This is accomplished by sensors attached to the seesaw that send signals to a computer. The computer selects scenes from the movie, Two For The Seesaw (director Robert Wise, 1962) and project two separate scenes one above another onto a wall. As the seesaw moves from one side to the other the scenes correspondingly turn off and on.

Site-specific single-channel video installation, environment, participative act, 2016–2024 video [00:07:24, HD, colour], ambient sound, real time projector, sound system, desk, chair, lamp, sheets of paper and pen The Austrian Embassy in Tbilisi supported the publication of Gabriel Soucheyre's art-critical text Take Me to The Moon (I'll see who I am) in Armenian and German for the CYFEST 16 exhibition. On a special day, I was sitting on my terrace in Rome when I noticed the half-moon in a rare vertical position. I observed the moon’s slow crossing over what seemed to me “my sky,” and I started to think about love and time. In my eyes, that image was dramatically beautiful. It was that, what “love” meant for me at that very moment: It is slow, and it seems long. It is short. The artistic output from this experience is a video, which I call loving. — Regina Hübner The visitors are invited to engage with “loving” by writing a love letter and placing it in the drawer.

video installation, 2021 Created by Heejeong Jeong Video, Graphic, Editing: Heejeong Jeong Sound: HyunTae Lee In the 1960s, Korea began to build apartments as part of an economic development policy that came with the rise of an authoritarian government. Mountains and rivers were covered, and the entire country became the same residential space. The apartments that have become Korea’s representative residential space today are not simply homes, but the inevitable pinnacle of economic and cultural desires. The panorama, which is a collage of photographs, shows the abandoned and alienated landscapes of the outskirts during this process. Like an inverted glove, the back of the place where the outside is projected upside down reveals the flow of desire and aspiration for a home. Will she, who spent her childhood in a house with a yard before the development boom, be able to realize her lifelong dream of a small garden where she can grow her own food?

VR, 2024 BirdMan is half human and half bird. The world in which they live is a vast desert surrounded by an infinite wall of mirrors. BirdMan can only become complete by reflecting the other half in the mirrors. But that perfection is both virtual and real. This work maximizes the effect of binocular rivalry. It makes the environment in the virtual world more surreal by displaying different images on both sides of the head-mounted display. Like Wittgenstein's rabbit-duck illustration or the Necker cube, BirdMan's hybrid perception gives us the opportunity to perceive our own perception. As Thomas Nagel demonstrated in What Is It Like to Be a Bat?, we cannot perceive the perceptions of others. Still, we cannot stop trying for the sake of the symbiosis with others.

Single channel video, 09:48 min, 2023–2024 Blind and Mute explores the relationship between individuals and society, portraying people who, while capable of hearing and speaking, are blind to the world, or those who can see the present but cannot speak or hear, as well as the unstable and fluid nature of society. Additionally, through artistic expression, the piece raises questions about human connection, resilience, and the limitless potential of human expression beyond sight and sound as It draws significant inspiration from the exploration of historical events, emotions, and memories. This work also emphasizes deeply on human suffering and shares the spirit of the times, as it offers a social reflection on Korea's past, present, and future — marked by conflict, confrontation, and anger. Furthermore, the ultimate goal of this work is to recognize and honor the resilience and beauty of individuals who live with sensory challenges, delivering the depth of expression beyond words to the audience and expanding the realm of empathy with those who navigate the world differently. It is a powerful performance aiming to convey this message.

AR, VR, 2024 A Glassy Vision: DongDong explores the concept of “vision,” which goes beyond mere sight, by reinterpreting the future through the integration of technology and sensory experience. Glasses serve as a key motif in this project, using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to blur the boundaries between physical reality and the virtual world, expanding the viewer’s perception. The exhibited graphic glasses offers more than just visual pleasure or glasses function not as mere tools; they present a multi-layered futuristic landscape through augmented reality. Viewers can explore virtual spaces beyond reality, experiencing new ways in which the past and present are interconnected.

Digital images created with generative AI (Midjourney), edited in Lightroom, and upscaled with Gigapixel AI, 2023

Digital images created with generative AI (Midjourney), edited in Lightroom, and upscaled with Gigapixel AI, 2022 We see young people talking, smoking, contemplating — but what interests me are the interior spaces they inhabit, and the accumulation of objects and details in these spaces. Objects are placed on wall-size shelves, coffee tables, sofas, and other surfaces. In some cases, we can easily identify these objects, but in others, they are harder to identify. Some look like fragments, traces, and shadows of the objects that are gone. These “fragments” evoke ancient museum artifacts, but their nature is fundamentally different. While archaeological remnants are tangible pieces of past civilizations, AI-generated fragments have a distinct ontology. They emerge from AI models processing millions of images, distributing patterns across trillions of connections. This process further virtualizes and diffuses digital materiality. The accumulations of objects, shadows, and traces in these images serve as a metaphor for the generative AI process. — Lev Manovich

Installation, 2024 barbed wire, armature, paints, welding This piece explores how SPAM, a byproduct of modern information technology, hinders creators from preserving their professional memories. For instance, if an art critic shares a link to their review via email and posts it on Facebook to archive their work online, opponents can file a SPAM defamation complaint with Facebook’s administration. As a result, Facebook may remove the content across the entire META platform, and even the email associated with that link could be blocked on Instagram's messaging system. This is an anti-democratic process, a form of exile for unique cultural information. It can be seen as an online parallel to the repressions of 1937 in the Soviet Union. Modern technology, with its anti-humanist logic, method, and style, works against the preservation of creative memory. In response, this piece — a wristwatch — symbolizes the moment of “ONLINE REPRESSION,” marking the time as 19:37, reflecting this digital suppression of expression.

Sound installation, 2023 glass, liquids, waterproof speakers, iron, ABS 3D print, audio system In a room, there are several different chemical glass ampoules. The ampoules are filled with different liquid compounds and colors. Within each vessel, there is a waterproof speaker. The played audio is digitally processed and mixed with synthetic sounds, organized in a composition. The composition is realized by exploiting the different sound propagation relative to the liquid in each ampoule and according to the wavelength (frequency) of the color inside the ampoule. The perceived timbre effect is therefore dictated by the different “composition” of the fluids which have the function of sound filters. This installation is an alchemical composition, a dialogue between contemporary composition and physical principles.

An immersive light and sound installation, 2024 programmable LED strips, aluminium supports, Arduinos, speakers Visuals by Raphaele Shirley Sound composition by Rhys Chatham Syntropy (a state of being), a new site-specific work by Raphaele Shirley with sound composition by Rhys Chatham, juxtaposes experiences of ascension through the integration of light, sound, and architecture within the HayArt Centre entrance. The transposition of Chatham’s Crimson Grail Part 1 (recorded in the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris) with the ephemeral light and color space formed within the gallery invites reflection on human expansion. It evokes the sense of ascension traditionally sought in sacred spaces while making such experiences accessible beyond their confines. “Syntropy” refers to systems evolving toward complexity, order, and harmony — contrasting with entropy, or decay. Shirley’s work balances aesthetics and structure, offering a meditation on how systems — whether biological, social, or artistic — move toward functionality and beauty.

VR, 2024 The Time Capsule is a digital art project that explores the intersection of art and technology. It raises profound questions about the preservation of contemporary media art in an age when digital mediums rapidly evolve and become obsolete.

3 audio players, 26 audio cassettes, 1983–1996 TELLUS is a Harvestworks program created in 1983 at the Rum Runner Bar on Canal Street in New York City. Joseph Nechvatal, a visual artist, Claudia Gould, a curator, and Carol Parkinson, a composer and staff member of Harvestworks/Studio PASS met to discuss the idea of a magazine on cassette that would feature interesting and challenging sound works. With the advent of the Walkman and the Boom Box, the editors perceived a need for an alternative to radio programming and the commercially available recordings on the market at that time. As a team, they then began to collect, produce, document, and define the art of audio by publishing works by local, national, and international artists. They worked with contributing editors and experts in their fields, who proposed themes and collected the best works from that genre. Unknown artists were teamed with well-known artists, and historical works were juxtaposed with contemporary and high art with popular art, all to enhance the crossover communication between the different mediums of art — visual, music, performance, and spoken word. On CYFEST 16, we feature 26 releases on the cassettes, acknowledging this medium, which was revitalised recently by the broad public and has a consistent interest from enthusiasts of sound as a perfect medium for durational uninterrupted anti-streaming medium today.

Video installation, 2023 (rev. 2024) Video [00:18:10, color, stereo sound, HD 1920x1080 px, single screen version] Video part: Stability AI, Runway, Premiere Pro, ebosuite 2 (in Ableton Live); audio part: Ableton Live 11, Synthetic voices; Analog (+ modular) and digital (Soft) synthesizers and processing; HD video projector, stereo sound with subwoofer Supported by Canadian Cultural Center and Nemo Biennale, Paris (France), ELEKTRA Montreal and CALQ (Quebec, Canada) Commissioned by the Canadian Cultural Center Paris, Premiered at Némo — International Biennial of Digital Arts of the Île-de-France Region, France, 2023 Inspired by Yukio Mishima's Five Modern Noh Plays, I came up with the idea of creating these Five UltraModern Noh. Space exploration was then considered as “ultramodern,” associating the characteristic slowness of the narrative deployment of Japanese Noh theater to the movements of astronauts in space. This first episode, Apollo 11 Dream, takes as its starting point the arrival on the moon of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission. The finale leaves us with an uncertainty and suggests an alternative ending: did the astronauts return to earth or did they remain on the moon, “trans-formed”.

Single-channel, Generative Adversarial Network, 02:42 min., color, stereo, dimensions variable, 2024 Machine Learning Engineer: Aisthesis Savage Sound Performers: Ku Hsiang-Yu, Yang Yu-Chiao Folk Tale Narrator: Yang Yu-Chiao Sound Designer: Chen Lin-Shuang Data Organizer: Ray He Supported by the National Culture and Arts Foundation (Taiwan) This work considers the transient nature of digital art and how it might be recorded, archived, and rediscovered by future generations. The project challenges us to think about the future of art preservation by encapsulating these reflections within a virtual environment. It evokes deep emotional connections by confronting themes of memory, impermanence, and the shared human desire to leave a lasting legacy.

Installation; generative software, 2017 Max/MSP, Jitter; computer, two screens, camera, sound monitor, steel structure Because we don’t know when we’re going to die, we can think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything only happens a certain number of times, and a very small number in fact. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon from your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even imagine your life without it? Maybe four, five times, maybe not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Maybe 20. And yet it all seems limitless. —Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky Vanishing Line stages these particular images that Paul Bowles talks about, on which the flow of life stumbles. The video captures of some of these moments slide across the surface of a horizontal screen. These images are placed randomly under an observation camera that broadcasts them on a second screen as a cinematographic continuity. On this screen are condensed the hatching of time, the decompositions of notable moments of the “film” line of life. Often, the camera re-films the images that it has just captured. The resulting “feedback” process causes a degradation in the quality of the images, evoking the process of erosion of memory and finitude.

Sound installation, 2023 stainless steel, electronics, field recording [04:00:00, single-channel sound, loop] An Antipodal point refers, on the surface of a sphere, to two diametrically opposite points. The proposal for CYFEST aims to metaphorically connect the building to its geographical opposite. This location is 1750 km south to Adamstown, Pitcairn, in the open sea. The proposal reflects on the invisible, what can’t be seen at first sight, what lies beyond apparently insurmountable barriers. It is an opening to a journey through the imagination. The installation draws its inspiration from the air ducts present in old buildings, the perception of muffled and barely audible discussions, decontextualized pieces of life devoid of visuals that act like a cerebral catalyst and opens the field to the imagination.