Kvartira-11 / New New (2023)

Be cautious, authorities might be listening!

Flat-11 / New New is my final year BA(Hons) Interaction Design course work at The Glasgow School Of Art.
This work is mixing references from personal experience supported by historical context of Post-Soviet Space.
The video abow is a visual summary documentation of my journey through the project.

^{Soviet Plastic Door Sign 110 to 11, 2023 
Intentionally modified from 110 to 11. It’s the symbol of the environment where I grew up. Because of the product shortages during USSR sometimes people would have to get creative with the little they have so did I when failed to find an actual door sign with “11” on it.} 

After an unfortunate accident with a Soviet radio falling on the concrete floor I’ve decided to give it a second breath by reusing the original mono speaker with a new FM receiver instead of old AM one.

While working on this project I was interested in using found objects and making them part of the design in the newly created interface and curated exhibition space for The Glasgow School Of Art Degree Show, 2023.

^{VEF-206 Soviet Radio, Made in The USSR in 1974.
Photo by Dommé Ewan, 2023}

^{Perestroika of VEF-206, AM to FM Receiver Replacement, 2023}

While doing research on the development of the USSR subculture for my dissertation I’ve made a decision to interpret certain cultural concepts of social interactions within sound installation inspired by DIY culture in the Pre and Post-Soviet Union. I am reflecting on the Soviet past in my home country, where 50 years of Russification left 50% of Russophones in Riga, capital of Latvia, including myself. 

My childhood was in the early 90s after the collapse of the USSR. I remember flat parties my parents would host while living in a tiny flat within the Soviet Tenement of the 1-464 series. Diverse music was played ranging from Russian Rock and Pop, to German Techno, not forgetting my grandmother’s favourite band - Modern Talking. In this environment I grew up into a ‘mélomane’, but without any opportunities for studying music professionally.

By immersing myself into the Alternative subculture in my youth and learning to play guitar, I realised that you do not necessarily need a diploma to make music. After years of collaborating  with different musicians, bedroom producers on music projects and experimenting with sound production myself I am realising that with the development of Digital Audio Workstation, you can even forget about learning a music instrument at times.

My piece is made from typical everyday objects which could be found in every Soviet flat and these act as sound triggers using capacitive sensing technology. Samples you hear are pre-recorded sounds of objects, snippets of songs with sentimental value, or basic chords with customly recorded and processed sounds. 

In this setup you can find enough chords to put the right sequence to play a Soviet Anthem and a lot of your favourite songs. All the noise you are making on this proletarian table is transmitted to the radio which is located on the different spot within ehxibition space. 


<sup>“Kvartira-11” 1st Setup during Work In Progress Show in the Reid Building of The Glasgow School Of Art.
Photo by Dommé Ewan, 2023

Schematic layout of the table with space and relationships adjustments between objects after reflection on the Work In Progress Show mostly improvised setup, 2023</sup>