Atlas is a newly commissioned electroacoustic performance piece that deals with urgent and relevant societal issues. With a strong and persistent interest in rigorous listening to the world as a fundamental outlet for understanding and connection, leaning towards sonic ecology and politics, non-technocentric field recording, and exploring emotion in a post-digital environment, in this composition, Alexandra Cihanská Machová deals with a personal split relationship to the world, to man and the redefinition of his position within new or potential ecosystems. Love and compassion appear as the only functional strategy in a crumbling world. The composition thus becomes a kind of utopian trip to the lost land, simultaneously dark and sweet, spilling over from a resigned, sarcastic position into a soothing acceptance and rest. Field recordings, warped quotations, drone surfaces, live and synthetic voices, or fragments of poetry influenced by trap and other pop and hip-hop genres flow into the multi-layered composition.

Alexandra Cihanská Machová
Alexandra Cihanská Machová (*1985) is a composer, electronic musician, and sound artist from Slovakia. She currently lives and works in Prague (Czech Republic), where she completed the master’s program at the Center of Audiovisual Studies at FAMU. Before that, she studied Multimedia Composition at JAMU in Brno and Musicology at MUNI in Brno. Her main means of expression is sound in various forms, from acoustic instruments, field recordings, live coding, and others, but often connected with other media as well. In the past, she used to work with larger forms such as the multimedia concert. Currently, she is more interested in the relationship of sound and space, sound installations, and sound in virtual environments. She also composes music for film, theater, or radio and works with moving images. Short description of activity (additional information for internal use only): relation to the project (for internal & reporting use only). The production of new artworks, their presentation and circulation, and exchange visits result in resilience. The piece addresses technological innovation in its form and content, as well as social and environmental issues.

Commissioned by A4
Premiere: NEXT Festival 2024
28.11.2024 Bratislava, Slovakia