Michal Mitro is an artist and a researcher working across the field of disciplines and media. Trained in Psychology and Sociology, he focuses on the nuances of everyday life as well as hyperobjects of planetary scale. In his artistic practice he translates his sociological imagination into crafted sculptural environments with elements of sound, light or electricity. Themes that he gravitates towards explore relationships between human and more-than-human worlds and the supposed friction between natural and artificial.

Michal Mitro presented a live audiovisual performance and led a workshop during the NEXT 2023. Performance narrates Luigi Rusollo’s futurist manifesto by language of today’s technology. Russolo’s “Art of Noises” (1913) inspires even today and doesn’t loose any of its relevance. Yet, it doesn’t seem as intriguing as hundred years back. The performance aims to enhance the original text with meanings that are own to the medium of its interpretation and by doing so re-establish the manifesto in its full radicality again. Practically speaking, the Manifesto is translated into Morse code that flashes custom-designed light-sensitive synthesisers (“OSCn” synth inspired by Nicholas Collins’ Handmade Electronic Music book).

In this workshop participants learnt how to build a simple yet versatile polyphonic analogue synthesiser on “breadboard” – without any soldering. The synth itself is capable of housing up to six oscillators that can either be mixed together or can modulate each other. They can be controlled manually through potentiometers or with use of any other resistor such as light resistor (theremin style) electricity conducting objects, eg. plants or human skin (bio-feedback), using electric paint and more. Through the process of assembling the synthesiser, relevant principles of electronics and sound synthesis were explained, demonstrated and practically tested. This experience provided a solid starting base for further exploration into the vast field of DIY synthesisers and electronics in general. Needless to say, participants gained confidence in constructing “OSC^n synthesiser”, multiplying it and modifying it to fit one’s needs. When the building part of the workshop was over, the workshop leader invited all the participants to perform in a Temporary Noise Orchestra at the festival site utilising their newly built synthesisers.
The video is produced by A4 as part of New Perspectives for Action, a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union and supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council and Bratislava City Foundation.

Video: Michal Vasiľ & Marek Bihúň
Authors concept: Peter Dolník