Akchim. Coordinates. 2018
The project is based on the Akchim dialect, which once existed in the territory of Perm Krai and is now almost completely lost.
The Akchim dialect was formed in one of the most remote areas of Perm Krai — the village of Akchim, which emerged in the 18th century and was abandoned in the 1990s. In the absence of living speakers, the dialect enters a specific virtual state, becoming a kind of ghost that exists between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Today, the Akchim dialect is fully documented and survives as a unique record — the six-volume Akchim Dictionary, compiled by researchers at Perm University. How can a dialect that exists between a document and a voice continue to live, intervening in the world of those who encounter it?
In this project, the artist creates voice-based objects, raising the question of what a dialect becomes when there are no longer any speakers, but a document remains that testifies to its existence. The artist undertakes a form of memory reconstruction, suggesting that the dialect has not disappeared, but continues to exist invisibly within people and language.
The artist creates an interactive loudspeaker system that serves as a kind of interface for accessing these disappeared voices.
The exhibition consists of three installations: Phonograms, Ak Che My, and Reappearance. Syncope. Each of them establishes a specific relationship between voice and time.
