Playing with Letters

Conceptualist poetry, field recordings, and karatala in a radio play about the connections, ruptures, and abysses of language

Exploring the method of commutation, Liza transforms conceptualist poetry into sound poetry: fragments of texts by Andrei Monastyrsky, Vsevolod Nekrasov, and Dmitri Prigov create a ringing gravitational field in which individual words and phrases repel and attract each other, forming consonances and multiplying reflections. In this weightlessness of sound, fragments of poetic speech are folded, through the sampling of noise and the layering of voices, into a transparent lullaby about the decay and the birth of language.

Cover image courtesy of Liza Ficus

About the Artist

The project Ficus was created in 2016. Elizaveta Pechenevskaya plays live and DJ sets using this name. Her vocals are influenced by folk and ethnic chants and dark aesthetics: deep synthesizers, muted drums, melancholy, and a sense of longing. In 2019, her IDM album Night Attack was released on the Ural label Faktura. As a DJ and curator she has participated in projects for NTS Radio, KURS Radio, Test FM, Sygma Radio, Retreat Radio and 5/8 Radio.