KONTEJNER organized a workshop in Split, from May 6th to May 20th 2023, on the topic of field recording of the marine environment and the undersea led by multimedia artist Toni Meštrović and curator and musicologist Davorka Begović. The workshop was intended for everyone interested in sound recording, field recording, underwater recording using hydrophones, recording with microphones and contact microphones, listening to sound environments and sound art practices in general. The workshop included an introductory lecture on field recording, familiarization with recording equipment, field recordings at several locations in Split, and a boat trip to Čiovo in order to record the underwater sound environment using a hydrophone. The programme focused on recording and listening to sound environments and, in addition to introducing the participants to different types of equipment, methods and techniques of recording, Meštrović introduced the participants to his artistic work, which is based on field recording. Thus, in addition to imparting new technical knowledge, the workshop also includes collective listening and introduces participants to thinking and conceptualizing artistic work in the segment of field recording. Listening to the sounds of the undersea and recording them becomes a tool for getting to know the marine world and developing a new view of the blue that surrounds us.
Toni Meštrović (b. 1973, Split) graduated in Graphic Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1999, where he produced graphic arts, sculpture and installations. Thanks to his interest in electronic audiovisual media, he attended the Video/Digital Imaging at the International Summer Academy for Contemporary Art in Salzburg in 1997. In 2004, he completed a two-year postgraduate degree in Media Art at the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne. Since 1992, he has actively participated in group and solo shows, as well as video festivals in Croatia and abroad. Sound entered his artistic production spontaneously, as a secondary segment of video and film. With time he recognized it as his medium of expression, splitting it from the visual and devoting himself entirely to sound. In almost two decades of working with sound, Meštrović’s approach to the medium has grown more complex, creating spatial sound installations and compositions. He divides his time between Rijeka and Kaštela and teaches at the Department of Film and Video of the Arts Academy in Split.
Davorka Begović (b. 1984, Zagreb) is a freelance musicologist and sound curator from Zagreb, Croatia, working in the field of contemporary experimental music and related art forms. For the last 18 years, she has been working in the field of culture and art as a selector and a producer, primarily of music projects, but also theatre, contemporary dance, multimedia and film projects. As a member of KONTEJNER she runs the international project Re-Imagine Europe, an experimental sound event Gibanja and other sound related projects. As an associate, she lectures Sound as the Visual Art Expression at the Animated Film and New Media Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She runs experimental sound listening sessions and workshops, publishes critics and articles, writes texts for discography and other releases.
