GES-2 Soundsystem 3. Spirit

The third section of GES-2 Soundsystem 3 studies the perception of music and its diversity: from the emergence of terminology to the listener’s experience.

Programme 

In the third season, the Spirit section continues the theme studied in the Body section. Focusing on the state of exhaustion that follows extended parties, the curatorial team examines what remains behind the façade of round-the-clock revelry. The sensation of a party without a party is the central theme of the Spirit section. What remains after a rave? How can the feeling of euphoria be extended? What is the outcome of participating in an event once the body has recovered from hours of overstimulation and tension? Is a tangible result of the party important? Can an object left behind after a rave become a memorial artifact?

Illustration: Maxim Maslov

Curators
Maxim Starichkov, Ladomir Zelinsky

Producers
Yulia Buchinskaya, Anastasia Kuklina, Mikhail Yatskov

Technical team
Pavel Luzhin, Artem Marenkov, Konstantin Petruk

Media specialist
Anastasia Melnikova-Belinskaya

Graphic design
Maxim Maslov, Olesya Voronina

Programme

What Comes After an Afterparty?

When: 5 Sep, 11:00—22:00
Where: Central Platform

In the Spirit section, the Central Platform will feature artifacts left behind from events organised by the STVOL creative association. Some of these items, grouped under the term “memorabilia” (a collection of objects associated with a notable person or event), will serve as guides on a journey into the collective and personal memories of witnesses and participants of events. Masks, disco balls, party props, and lost-and-found objects from STVOL events are treated not as disposable items but as collectible treasures, elevated to cult status by participants. The archive of objects, catalogued with the dates of events, was reconstructed and curated by the artist Mikhail Dudkin together with STVOL co-founders and members of the RASTENIYALI association, Elizaveta Agapova and Evgenia Lukina.

Listening sessions: The KLF — Chill Out (1990)

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When: 6 Sep, 14:00—15:30
Where: Forest

The Spirit section will conclude with a listening session of The KLF’s 1990 album Chill Out.

The KLF, also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu, or The JAMs, was a project by British artists Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, launched in 1987 as a prime example of artistic intervention in the music industry.

The duo began with illegally sampling The Beatles and ABBA, and ended by burning a million pounds of legitimately earned money in 1994. In between these acts, The KLF recorded a hit using the main theme from the Doctor Who TV series and released it under the name The Timelords (Doctorin’ the Tardis). They later published a guide on how to achieve chart success (The Manual: How to Have a Number 1 the Easy Way), and in 1992 fired a cartridge of blank rounds over the heads of guests at the prestigious Brit Awards, performing a cover with the grindcore band Extreme Noise Terror instead of the announced single. Following this stunt, a voice offstage declared The KLF’s withdrawal from the music industry.

The KLF’s interventions and performance art were closely tied to the rise of the British rave scene. Their most recognisable recording is the Stadium Trilogy, including the singles 3 AM Eternal, What Time Is Love?, and Last Train to Trancentral. These tracks were in heavy rotation on both radio and dancefloors.

Chill Out, the album at the centre of the listening session, was released in 1990 and became the project’s first full-length recording under the name The KLF. At the time of release, it was labelled as “ambient house”, creating a precedent for a new genre in which ambient elements were integrated into club culture. The album and its paradoxical description (house is associated with rhythm, ambient with its absence) was a reaction to the psychological and physical stress of attending a long party.

The Forest will be transformed into a spacious listening environment, where participants will not be restricted by seats and two speakers. They will be able to create their own listening experience themselves.

The session will begin with a conversation between Ladomir Zelinsky, curator of the GES-2: Sound program, and music journalist and author of Planetronica: A Popular History of Electronic Music, Nik Zavriev.