15/02/2026
gathering
Presentation of field recordings made at the Castle
Dorota Błaszczak, Justyna Stasiowska, Iza Smelczyńska
- The next meeting will focus on an expanded understanding of the soundscape. This fundamental concept of acoustic ecology was popularised nearly half a century ago by R. Murray Schafer. Since then, it has become not only one of the basic ways of listening to the world as if it were a musical composition, but has also inspired numerous references, developments, and analyses revealing its ideological entanglements.
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- One such analysis points to the anthropocentric foundation of the concept of the soundscape. Schafer’s proposed mode of listening is rooted in the human auditory apparatus, along with all of its limitations. An attempt to move beyond this perspective lies at the core of Dorota Błaszczak’s project. The artist carried out four long-term recordings from the four sides of Ujazdowski Castle, each lasting one week. This objectifying, yet unattainable-for-humans perspective provided sonic material for analysis conducted using her original methodology of Sound Fields.
- Justyna Stasiowska’s presentation refers to the work Still Life with Fields, developed as part of the project Listening to the Wrocław Irrigation Fields, curated by Daniel Brożek and Katarzyna Roj. Identifying an artificial element within an apparently natural landscape led the artist to develop the idea of false landscapes, referred to as fakescapes. This speculative artistic tool, created using studio techniques, serves both as a reflection on the limits and paradoxes of our understanding of nature and as an inquiry into the naturalness of the sense of hearing itself.
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- Iza Smelczyńska will present a radio play devoted to the Cistern in front of Ujazdowski Castle. Originally built as a safeguard for the Ujazdowski Hospital, the structure was excavated at the beginning of the 21st century and adapted for use by an art institution in 2003 by Tadashi Kawamata. Since then, it has hosted irregular artistic events. Their sonic history, combined with the site’s current acoustics, will become material for reflection on the soundscape from a temporal perspective.
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After the presentations, there will be a discussion with the artists, moderated by Robert Losiak—a musicologist, philosopher, acoustic ecologist, and founder of the Soundscape Research Studio at the University of Wrocław.
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- Dorota Błaszczak
- She creates interactive projects as well as sound and audiovisual works, drawing on radio and archival inspirations and sound materials from long-term ecoacoustic observations. She works on the preservation of radio sound archives and teaches courses related to interactive sound. She has collaborated on films, dubbing, recordings, and sound reconstruction, as well as concert sound projections. She has also co-created sound for virtual reality projects and early computer games.
- Justyna Stasiowska
- A lesbian Silesian artist and sound theorist based in Berlin. She holds an MA in drama and theatre studies from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and has conducted research in sound studies. She has published in theatre journals and books, the contemporary music magazine Glissando, the academic sound studies blog SoundingOut!blog, and other academic journals. She edited an issue of Glissando devoted to sound design. Her work focuses on sound narration, with particular attention to concepts of dramaturgy and design across disciplines.
- Iza Smelczyńska
- A Warsaw-based composer, sound artist, and musicologist. She explores both everyday sounds and unusual sonic phenomena, and her fascination with the endless possibilities of sound also leads her to create new electroacoustic devices. Her musical compositions, which she refers to as “sound essays,” are based on the exploration of these phenomena. She also researches soundscapes, engages in sound education, and examines different modes of listening. Iza performs at contemporary music festivals, publishes articles in music journals, and hosts the radio programme “This Is Also Worth Listening To?” on Radio Kapitał.
