No To War! Peace To The World! (2022)

^{No To War! Peace To The World! / Sound Installation During Open Share Exhibition // 2022
Sonic Art // Headphones, Spatial Audio Collage, Print on Paper, MDF Wood, Laser Cut}

Being born in the debris of the Soviet regime in the early 90s in Latvia, and being raised in an environment of old values, as a child I was looking at a collection of Soviet postcards built by my family over the years with loud anti-war slogans from Brezhnev’s epoch. As I grew up, the perspective of the stories I would hear from some representatives of the USSR generation would not match the record of modern history books. This made me realise the effectiveness of long-term propaganda.

“Putinism” in modern Russia became possible because of the 69 years of Soviet oppression and the 1993 constitutional crisis, together leading to the current Russo-Ukrainian War. Design of the propaganda language is clean, using bold statements, repetition, as well as deforming reality by turning words upside down. 

The lo-fi sound collage is built around Vladimir Putin’s declaration of war on Ukraine and uses various ways of worsening sound: applying distortion on unexpected instruments like piano, and on already overloaded desperate screams which were recorded through headphones. Some parts of Russian Federation’s president are cut and looped as a reference to propaganda medium.

In contrast to soundscapes full of horror I am using multiple tracks with operatic vocals as a glimpse of hope and encouragement for those who are not supporting bloodthirsty military actions to speak up, as well as to give the composition a dramatic and old fashioned feel. This style of vocals often can be heard in the Russian Romance music genre. 

Repeating same old ways never led any further than before.

This is a line from one of the song lyrics I was working on, a few months after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It criticises dictatorship and Russian imperialism. The next set of images started as a one off experiment with a prompt driven AI art generator. The results turned out way too interesting for me not to use this imagery for one of my art projects. The visual aesthetics, after combining images of the world’s the most famous dictators, such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, with Vladimir Putin in this Goblin tale is reminiscent of the distorted style of German expressionist Otto Dix, who depicted the brutality of war with his art pieces.

^{Compilation of 12 AI Vladimir Putin Themed Prompt Generated Images // 2022
1– 2 – Vladimir Putin Soviet Propaganda Poster
3 – Putin Opera Diva Death Metal Artwork
4 – 8 – Stalin Putin Hitler Goblin
9 – Putin Opera Diva Death Metal Artwork
10 – 11 – Violent Putin Death Metal Artwork
12 – Putin Opera Diva Death Metal Artwork
Graphic Design / Illustration //  Prompt Driven AI Art Generator NightCafe, Adobe Illustrator}

^{No To War! Peace To The World! - Audio Collage // 2022 
Sound Production // Audio Interface, Microphone, Headphones, MIDI Controller, Steinberg Cubase
2 minutes 47 seconds}