Heard Stories

The shimmering curtain is made of handwoven magnetic tape, treated as a sculptural material. The work takes the form of a generational archive, built from the private collections of the artist together with those of his friends and family. The tapes bear traces of everyday listening and recording practices: music compilations recorded from radio broadcasts, foreign-language phrasebooks, as well as conversations between the artist and his sisters, recorded with a microphone during childhood play. By juxtaposing individual tapes, the artist evokes the rituals surrounding the circulation of cassettes — their borrowing, copying, and shared listening. Designed as a reflective surface of magnetic tape, the piece constitutes an archive of sounds, access to which is withheld by the artist. This arrangement prevents engagement with the voices recorded within it.

— Marta Lisok, Curator of the exhibition Coverings and Carapaces at Institute of Design in Kielce, Poland

photos: Alicja Kielan