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Jacek
Smolicki

Quivering Stillness (2016-)

Even though we can not hear them in a literal sense, the present is always to some degree infused with and infected by the echoes of the past. In the places affected by tragic events, these echoes seem somewhat much more detectable. What is presently aural therein seems not so much representative of the current, but rather misrepresentative of the gone and absent. Even though sounds such as human laughters and bird chirping refurnish the atmosphere, these places seem to resist this enforcement of a new identity; they reject the condition of today and instead remain stubbornly suspended somewhere between the gone and the present

Performed through the means of sound, photo and video recording, Quivering Stillness is an ongoing exploration and documentation of sites affected by military conflicts, political unrest and ruination. The project can be followed on para-archives.net


The project takes different forms such as performative lectures and sound performances. It was presented at the closing event of the Living Archives research project at Malmö Museum in April 2018. An essay about the project entitled 'Eyes that Listen, Ears that See: The Para-Archive of Quivering Stillness' was published in 'Soundsites. Experiments in Sound and Place' published by Public Art Dialogs, Francis & Taylor in the Spring 2019. Read here

Plaszow concentration camp in Krakow


Former Jewish Ghetto in Krakow, Poland


Radio tower in Gliwice, Poland


Former Olympic facilities, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Former Olympic facilities, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Former Olympic facilities, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Flak towers (Flaktürme) in Vienna, Austria


Flak towers (Flaktürme) in Vienna, Austria


Liban quarry in Krakow, Poland


Liban quarry in Krakow, Poland


Fort Pre-Giroud, Le Day, Switzerland