A voice interrupts, says she.

This is not an epitaph. This is an opening. The ghost in the machine is attempting to tell you a story, but perhaps you are reading another one altogether. The canary in the coal mine will sing for death, sing for birth. Despite its perpetual mutilation–hearken to it. Pay close attention, then move as far away as you can.

The otherwise, much like a haunting, is punctilious in as much as it is patient.

Designed and produced by Andreas Yakovlev Michaelides (YAKOVLEV), this experimental composition is an accompaniment to gervaise alexis savvias’ essay, notes towards an otherwise, which was recently published on the artistic research platform Plot(ting). The platform functions as one of the various lines of activity of the Lectoraat Art and Spatial Praxis (led by Dr. Patricia de Vries) at Rietveld Sandberg Research.

Precipitated by gervaise’s encounter with their grandmother’s manuscripts which recount the British empire’s colonial expansion and extractivism in Northern Rhodesia (modern day Zambia), their text explores spectrality as an errant entry point, the plot—apropos Sylvia Wynter––as a linguistic stand-in for the otherwise, and the ossification of language in the past-present moment. They posit that poetry, figured as a form of social poiesis, provides an alternative to the barbarity of colonialism: its violent tonality and foreclosure of possibility.

In a similar vein, a ghostly utterance and the non-linearity of time serve as entry points for the first collaboration between gervaise and Andreas. Moving away from the audio-essay as a strict and somewhat–clinical format, the sonic composition is envisioned as an alternative way to commune with the spectral chorus that runs throughout gervaise’s text. The ghost in the machine meets sonic manipulation meets the little beating breath of the canary in the coal mine. The brevity of time, and a lingering presence beckons us forward, towards an otherwise.

The Plot(ting) platform was launched in April 2024 by the Lectoraat Art and Spatial Praxis at Rietveld Sandberg Research. Inspired by the groundbreaking theories of Jamaican critic Sylvia Wynter on space and narrative, Plot(ting) investigates ‘plotting’ as a form of critical analysis, artistic research and political praxis. The platform features a diverse array of contributions which collectively offer innovative perspectives on spatial politics, artistic interventions, and theoretical discourse.

Credits:

With special thanks to Laura Dubourjal, Patricia de Vries, Androula Kafa, Amelia Groom, and Inte Gloerich.

Images (except main image) produced by @with.rust (Nepheli Papadaki, Peggy Theodorogianni).

Bios:

gervaise alexis savvias is a Zambian–Cypriot writer and artist-researcher currently based between Amsterdam, NL and Nicosia, CY. Their artistic and textual practice figures itself through an entanglement of hauntology, speculative historiography, experimental sound, cultural criticism, and the mysticism of the chance encounter. They are graduating student and research assistant at the Sandberg Instituut, and are currently drafting a publication exploring the interconnection between chance, spectrality, black negativity, and infrastructure.

Andreas Yakovlev Michaelides is a self-taught designer and music producer. Under the moniker YAKOVLEV, he examines the liminal zones between perception, memory, and sonic materiality. His practice operates at the intersection of field recording, digital manipulation, and auditory phenomenology. YAKOVLEV has developed compositions for performances, films, and virtual environments, seeking to trace how sound mediates our experience of reality. He has been presenting live works across Europe since 2018.