THREADS RESIDENCY
Sounds Like a Book: Threads was rooted in the topic of myth, unfolding as a tripartite residency program shaped by the sonic and material landscapes at the core of the stories in the village of Șona. The residency ran from the 1st till the 15th of August 2022 in Șona, Brașov county, Romania and was followed by an autumn group exhibition curated by the artist Mihai Popescu at Galeria Posibilă in Bucharest.
The residency debuted with Oana Tudoran—an artist, writer, and perfumer, and delved into the physical and emotional relationship between bodies and spaces. The transition from research to practice took place during a Sound-Art Workshop, where Lukas Jakob Löcker, an Austrian multimedia artist, provided a hands-on introduction to tools and software. The final phase of the process occurred within the framework of the Self-Publishing Design Workshop, led by the Graphomat Team (Andreea Popescu, Mihai Popescu, Andra Pavel). During this workshop, the artists in residence worked on assembling the visual and sound components, while integrating the latest concepts and tools from the fields of book design and self-publishing.
PROJECTS
Edén Barrena
Some Notes on the Use of Textiles in Șona
edenbarrena.com
Some Notes on the Use of Textiles in Șona is a book with twenty drawings that capture details of traditional textiles found in Șona. Before, people from rural areas used to spend most of their winter months inside the house. This was a perfect occasion to work on the textiles the family needed for their daily life.
In villages like Șona it is still possible to see some of these textile pieces being used or displayed in people’s homes. One of the neighbors showed me her collection, from which I did the drawings of this book.
Guillaume Bihan
The book and the sound piece are two parts of the same work. Although they exist independently, they explore the pictorial dimension and the repetitive aspects of images and sounds, like rhythms that complement each other. Be it visual or auditory, the emphasis is on the almost sensual contemplation of a landscape, on a journey between nature and humanity.
Everything is tinted by a feverish melancholy and a disturbing peacefulness. Followed by the images of an armchair where a Doina is sung, and a skull with its teeth pulled out, the two pieces have a personal story threaded throughout, a lingering presence of a sweet heaviness. (Guillaume Bihan)
Alexandru Mihai Budeș
Echoes, Spells, and Disenchantment is a two-part project exploring memory, time, and history through sound and AI-generated imagery. Focusing on the village of Șona, Romania, it examines how oral traditions, myths, and conspiracy theories evolve, are distorted, or fade over time, influenced by personal recollection and modern media. The artist innovatively uses AI, leveraging its limitations to expose gaps between locally gathered stories and broader cultural narratives. By prompting the AI with collected fragments, its inability to process unusual distortions revealed which elements had been altered over time. Additionally, the AI introduced logical yet unmentioned details, forcing an iterative process of correction and discovery. This dynamic interplay between human intuition and machine prediction reconstructed a more complete version of the village’s mythology. The sound piece creates a cyclical journey of distortion and clarity, while the publication dissects and reassembles details, reflecting on the nonlinear nature of history and human perception.
Covrig
Inspired by Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers, the publication delves into the mythology created around women healers as witches and generates images from the realm of plants, animals, spells and charms. These elements are connected to the practice of healing and protecting. Texts appear briefly, only to state facts or moods.
The sound part is a mixtape with songs from popular culture inspired by the theme of witchcraft, a trope that is used very often to describe women. The songs are glued together with snippets recorded during the residency and they are re-recorded outside, exploring Șona.
Alina Ion
[the title] derives from the ironization of the best-seller books and popular articles from the past decade(s) or so, which come with the promise of helping you with your life.
the project was constructed under the idea of cyclical periods – a book with no beginning and no ending and a sound which captures sounds from the beginning in the end – both revolving under a centered piece (such is the forge in the village): the engagement with the metal.
Matei Monoranu
Through the printed piece and audio material, the artist sought to explore the feeling of home and belonging through his character, Simon Siclop, an alter ego embodying the emotional side of his life. The atypical format brings back the nostalgia of being a child in the 90’s, when kids adorned their walls with cheap posters of blockbuster movies, video games and various bands.
Roxana Morar
This project revolves around an attempt to measure the present moment. During my two-week stay in Șona, I observed the surroundings, outlined and separated the elements that could end up as the objects of my study. I let myself be affected by anything that came my way and had a quantifiable feature, then ordered them in a timeline-based structure. This process bounded to my sonic experience that triggered, in some instances, what I chose to record. It was also dependent and equally limited by my capacities as a body in space. The outcome resulted in a glossary system of knowledge, action and existence.
Miruna Radovici
A pocket book about an unfinished journal in which the writer gathered accidental encounters, ephemeral ideas and small incidents. ”Probably a book about water” is dedicated to water, luck and rejuvenation and it can be brought back to life by whomever may finish it, while taking into account the residues left beforehand.
In some cultures, to talk of water and air means to make small talk.
Vitaly Yankovy
Storks are a perfect example of how wildlife and humans can coexist. They have lived in symbiosis with people since the Middle Ages. Saxon villages are popular nesting grounds for storks due to their proximity to fertile fields, where the birds find abundant food. By feeding on insects and worms, they play a beneficial role in supporting crop health.
In village culture, storks carry mystical and magical meanings, which vary across different regions. There are many beliefs about storks. Some say they settle only near the homes of good people or in places blessed by God. A well-known myth tells of storks bringing newborn babies, while another suggests they herald the arrival of true spring.
Performing for storks brings them agency and establishes relations through sound.
Nadine Weber
An observation of both traditional and industrial elements that shape the overall image of the village.
EXHIBITION
Two exhibitions showcased the multimedia artworks locally and internationally, at Galeria Posibilă in Bucharest (curated by Mihai Popescu) and Lnz, Austria, at DH5 (curated by Andreea Vladut and Lukas Jakob Löcker). Both iterations were part exhibition, part interactive, immersive installations, aiming to provide in-depth perceptive and critical viewing experiences.