(non)obsolet media
(NON)obsolete media was a six- month project in which z.s. phonon~ joined forces with the Archive of the City of Ústí nad Labem, where, among other things, an extensive collection of shellac gramophone records is stored.
The project was structured in several directions: digitization of analogue media, author's sound creation with its live presentation and thematic lectures for the public. During the six-month project, the shellac plate collection founded by Dr. Kaiser, which includes more than 20,000 plates from the early 1900s to the 1950s, was made available to selected international artists. Artists active on the Czech and German art scene, both internationally established and locally active, especially in Ústí nad Labem and Dresden, were invited to participate in the project.
The public output of the project is three events - 30.11, 6.12 and 13.12 - during which the authors' compositions created on the basis of archived and digitised sound recordings were presented in turn. Marie Čtveráčková, Jan Macháček, Iñaki Rocha Echevarria, Jan Krombholz, Moisés Horta Valenzuela, Jan Burian, Vojtěch Groot, Antje Meichsner, Oliver Torr and Polina Khatsenka presented their works in the format of live playing and acousmatic compositions in quadraphonic sound.
The event also included a trio of thematic lectures. The first one was about the origin and history of the Ústían shellac plate collection by its founder PhDr. Vladimír Kaiser. The next was about the development of the surround sound format by Polina Khatsenko and the last lecture was about the digitization and archiving of analogue media (shellac records, wax cylinders, tape recorders) by Filip Šír.
In addition to the live presentation of the works of the artists addressed, a compilation of the compositions was also created and officially launched at the closing event.
All events of the project took place in the House of Art Ústí nad Labem.