The New Positions of British Painting exhibition ends on 23 November, but something new will also begin on that day. The Telegraph Gallery will present a long-prepared auditory programme to the Olomouc audience, where visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the building, the intentions of the architects and to unravel the encrypted authorial narrative linked to the story of the building itself, which was formerly used as a telephone and telegraph factory. We broadcast in all artistic genres and formats, just join in.
Audiowalk, or "sound walk", is a storytelling method that has recently experienced a huge surge in popularity. Various institutions began using the format, particularly during the coronavirus, when it served as an alternative to closed theatres and museums, but it retains its popularity even now. It is a genre at the crossroads of radio, literature and theatre. A site specific performance that connects a fictional story with a real place, which the viewer is gradually guided through. Very often he uses a binaural microphone, which creates the illusion of being somewhere else. This effect was used, for example, in 2019 by NoD Theatre in its production "Fantasy!" to tell a story that takes place entirely in the listener's head. All you have to do is put on your headphones, close your eyes and enter a completely different world.
In 2019 and 2020, Kateřina Součková's audiobooks Above the City and The Invisible Marketplace achieved great public interest. In them, Kateřina Součková introduced Prague residents to well-known places they pass through every day. However, thanks to the recording they hear in their headphones, they had the opportunity to perceive them with completely different eyes or ears. Audiowalk helps us to disrupt our normal thinking patterns and think about things differently. When we sit, we perceive the environment around us differently than when we walk, and the scenery of our reality changes before our eyes. Elements of the environment are captured in our minds as points that, like the paintings of pointillists, put together a very different picture than we are normally used to.
The format has been used by cities, museums and galleries to present the history or interesting aspects of unusual places with a distinctive genius loci, but also by theatres, which offer audiowalk, for example, as a companion programme to fill the time between their performances. Thus, for example, during the Coronavir period, the audience of Faust at the Estates Theatre had the opportunity to take part in an audio tour directed by the F.A.U.S.T. Corporation. The walk took place in the foyer and corridors of the theatre, allowing the audience to shorten their time while waiting for the second act of Goethe's famous drama and thus taking the theatre experience itself to the next level. In this way, Theatre Na Zábradlí brought the life story of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra closer to its audience. Thanks to the unique way of telling the story, visitors had the opportunity to meet various personalities of Cleopatra's life literally in person.
Olomouc audiences may have encountered this format earlier this summer. An audio walk through the historical centre of the city was prepared for them by the Moravian Theatre Studio in cooperation with the TourStories app.
"Put on your headphones and keep your eyes open."
Telegraph Audiowalk allows viewers to walk through all floors of the house and experience familiar surroundings in an unfamiliar way at eleven stops located at various points around the building. All they will need to do this is a smartphone to read the QR codes and a headset. Audiowalk is available in both Czech and English, and a limited number of headphones will be available to borrow on site.
The twelfth stop holds a surprise. The premiere of Telegraph Audiowalk will include a live contemporary dance performance in the loft space. The performance follows a guided walk-through, pushing the boundaries of the experience one level higher - to the fifth floor.
"Just lift your eyes and look up. Or touch the waves with your fingertips."
The whole project was put together for the Telegraph gallery by the pair of filmmakers Aminata Keita as director and musician Miju.
Aminata Keita studied Theatre and Film Studies at Palacký University in Olomouc and Drama Directing at DAMU. During her studies, she co-founded the generational theatre company Činohra 16-20, in which she staged The Brothers Karamazov, or the original production The Last Grain of Sand, about a young generation leaving university and plunging into a world that is as inviting as it is inhospitable. Her next artistic steps have taken her to the National Theatre Brno, where she has directed four productions to date, most recently Nightscape - a bitter comedy about the difficult legacy of Germany's past and the associated disputes over heritage, but also about the societal guilt that runs through several generations (premiere 20 October 2023). Themes of fear, intergenerational differences and, more recently, political themes are recurring in her work.
DAY SCHEDULE
18:00 Opening of the current exhibition
18:30 Launch of Audiowalk Telegraph
19:30 Performative part of the Fifth Floor Project
