The Crossing is the first artistic creation of the TIMES project, commissioned by four festivals: Unsound, Semibreve, Berlin Atonal, and Sónar. As an ambitious multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary work presented in two separate chapters and performances, The Crossing involves artists, musicians, and researchers from Europe and beyond. Both performances will be presented at the festivals involved in the commissioning process throughout 2024 and 2025.

The thematic golden thread of the project focuses on the nature of borders and the complex emotional psychodynamics experienced by migrants. The sites representing Europe’s current political landscape are not always the obvious ones; cities, parliaments, universities, and workplaces. 

Politics can also be read against the grain by examining those locations often incorrectly perceived as apolitical, lying outside human history and in the margins rather than at the centre of our collective political lives.

FIRST CHAPTER
Białowieża: Chris Watson and Izabela Dłużyk

The Białowieża Forest, a site of exceptional natural beauty that has become a symbol of wider geopolitical tensions.

One such site identified by the commissioning festivals is Białowieża Forest, which stretches across Poland and Belarus. It is the last mainland part of the primeval forest that once stretched across Europe and is still largely untouched by humans. For more than two years, migrants from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia have attempted to cross through this forest into Poland and the EU – and have been pushed back by Polish guards. This has resulted in migrants being trapped and dying. A metal wall has been constructed, dividing the forest, which has become a symbol of wider geopolitical tensions.

This site provides the geographical grounding for the first chapter of this project, called Białowieża. This sonic experience is a work by the legendary field recordist Chris Watson, who is working with Izabela Dłużyk, a blind Polish sound recordist celebrated for her profound connection to nature’s acoustics and recognized as one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential Women in 2023 for her expertise in bird sound recording. Their work will be presented in total darkness in multichannel audio.

SECOND CHAPTER
A Forbidden Distance: Saint Abdullah, Eomac and Rebecca Salvadori

The experience of grief encountered by the people on the move.

The second chapter to the work is jointly produced by Iranian-Canadian brothers Mohammad and Mehdi (Saint Abdullah), Irish sound-designer and musician Ian McDonnell (Eomac), and London-based Italo-Australian video artist and filmmaker Rebecca Salvadori. 
The project, entitled ‘A Forbidden Distance‘ is an exploration of the sense of self in relation to processes of displacement. Their collaborative audio-visual work reflects on the nature of stories and fragmented experiences, both collectively and individually.

Artists

Chris Watson

UK

Chris Watson was a founding member of the influential Sheffield based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals and habitats from around the world. As a freelance composer and sound recordist Watson specialises creating spatial sound installations which feature a strong sense and spirit of place.

Izabela Dłużyk

Poland

Izabela Dłużyk is a Polish nature sound recordist. She has recorded many birds including cranes in the Warta Mouth, cormorants on the Vistula Spit, geese in the Beka reserve, whooper swans in the Słupia Valley and storks in Żywków on the border with Russia among the many others. She was named to BBC 100 Women list in November 2023.

Saint Abdullah

Tehran, Iran (born) - NYC, USA (based)

Formed by two brothers, Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani-Yeganeh, raised primarily in the West, away from their family in Iran, Saint Abdullah is designed somewhat as an introduction to a different palette of sounds, creating a charged and anxious, but still assertive mixture of minimalist dub and Iranian samples. The two are particularly drawn to the sounds associated with Shia Islam, predominant in Iran but usually a minority in the Muslim world.

Eomac

Wicklow, Ireland

Eomac aka Ian McDonnell is an Irish producer living in Wicklow near Dublin. The Eomac sound draws from obscure samples and raw sound design in an ongoing exploration of intense, visceral music for body and soul. Alongside his solo releases as Eomac he’s also one half of the duos Lakker, noeverything and Lena Andersson.

Rebecca Salvadori

London, UK

Rebecca Salvadori is a London-based artist working at the intersection between video art and documentary. She has a long experience in filming environments with a focus on non-hierarchical/chronological layering and sequencing of audio to footage. Her film works act as constellations of highly personal and wilfully elusive heterogeneous elements: multifaceted portraits of moments, people, and environments that can be approached from different angles as they move between personal and transpersonal scales.

We were particularly excited to work with other festival curators directly on a collaborative project. Being able to benefit from the personal connections and experiences of other festivals added layers of depth and complexity to the types of performances we were able to create and made the process more fun and surprising.

Laurens & Harry – Curators for Berlin Atonal

“By joining forces, we can inspire each other to create solid artistic projects and delve into topics that are important to us and our audiences.
Working together makes the curatorial process more interesting. In this case, all the artists involved in the project play a key role in portraying different perspectives on an important topic: borders in today’s world.”

Sónar

Commissioned by

Berlin Atonal DE

Berlin Atonal is one of the most influential festivals for sonic and visual art internationally. Renowned as a leading platform in the field of experimental music and art, the festival has a sharp focus on presenting new work and has hosted over 900 world premiers and commissions – making it one of the leading platforms in the field.

Atonal has become one of the most visible German and international independent institutions that focuses on the intersection between art and music.

Unsound PL

Unsound focuses on a broad swath of contemporary music — emerging, experimental, and leftfield — whose sweep doesn’t follow typical genre constraints. Influential, it has developed a reputation for always being ahead of the curve and serves as an annual industry meeting – a platform for an exchange of artistic ideas for musicians, visual artists, curators, journalists, record label owners and booking agents.

As well as spotlighting emerging artists, Unsound commissions and tours new shows and encourages transborder collaborations, adapts and reimagines abandoned spaces for concerts and club nights, and is known for its sound inspired Ephemera perfume project.

Semibreve PT

Semibreve is a exploratory electronic music and digital art festival taking place in Braga, Portugal. Since 2011, Semibreve has consistently presented a forward-thinking programme featuring some of the most revered electronic music and cross-disciplinary work by artists from around the world, as well as maintaining an active role in the promotion of the digital arts in Portugal.

Sónar ES

Sónar is a pioneering festival that’s reflected the evolution and expansion of electronic music and digital culture since its first edition in 1994. Each year, Sónar converts Barcelona into a focal point for music lovers, artists and professionals from across the world, drawn to the multiple stages and venues of the Fira Barcelona by the festival’s innovative content, format, and celebratory atmosphere.