Music as the beginning and the end of my researches

During my childhood, I have always thought that once I grew up I would be a musician, but unfortunately (or luckily) life had a completely different path for me—I graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and I received my PhD from the Arts Academy (University of Zagreb). When I was accepted as a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts, I thought “it is not music, but at least it is an academy,” and my proposed simultaneous research of the composer Alexander Scriabin and painter Alexej Jawlensky showed that interdisciplinary I wished to return to my first passion: music. My mentor, Prof. Igor Rončević, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, told me that my research should be linked to the contemporary context as well, or otherwise I would not step into unexplored space nor create a new tread in the world knowledge. Thanks to that instruction, I introduced one more artist into my research, but not a productive artist like Scriabin and Jawlensky, but a reproductive one—the world-renowned pianist Ivo Pogorelich. I assumed that his art would help me transfer my research into contemporary highly reproductive era.

It is not necessary to point out that my proposal at the Academy of Fine Arts was considered “a little weird,” but I explained that the visual-art section of my research was applicable to all branches of art in general, thus also to Pogorelich’s pianism, which suited my thesis precisely because his interpretations are unusually rich in musical tone colours. Finally, my artwork (which was an inevitable final part of my research and a prerequisite for receiving a PhD from the Arts Academy) was allowed to have a foothold in anything, thus it was not unusual that my multidisciplinary virtual light installation was indeed a synthesis of all researched artists, as many as five selected branches of art (music, painting, literature, architecture and dance), theory and philosophy of art, which all I successfully linked to science as well.

I have always loved playing the piano, so it was a special experience to promote my first book at the Zagreb Academy of Music

Chromatic fantasies in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music

In the period from 2012 to 2014, I have already published my researches at a higher literary level in the award-winning journal for literature, culture and science Riječi (Words). But at one point I realized that I needed to unite my texts, because despite being readable independently, there was an unbroken connection between them, leading the reader to the conclusion of the whole research. As I was taught the writing style by Mr. Andrija Tunjić, the Editor of the journal Riječi and Croatian renowned theater critic at Vijenac (also the author of a series of books), I asked him kindly to be the Editor of my first book.

In my book I finally managed to achieve a satisfactory literary expression by my own criteria, adding some new insights and connections between various branches of art and previously unrelated art works and their authors. The main theme were chromatic fantasies of Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich, and the researched three artists helped me to show that the reproductive artist just like the productive one is capable of achieving abstract expression. Following this idea, it was wonderful to organize the book promotion in the new building of the Zagreb Academy of Music, which has a rainbow-coloured installation on its roof—it is the same colour spectrum I used to “overpaint” the black and white piano keys on the cover of my book. This design showed that Scriabin’s light organ was the leitmotif of all of my researches, while the silhouette of the piano provided a refuge for the very long subtitle of my book.

speakers provided original interpretations of the same work

My book is entitled Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic Fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich, and with it I wanted to show that reproductive artists, just like productive artists, can render the original work unrecognizable, despite being obliged to respect the written work in its entirety. Once artists begin to dissolve the original work, they have endless shades of musical tones at their disposal, and precisely this aspect was followed by Prof. Ljubomir Gašparović while playing Scriabin’s composition Feuillet d’Album, Op. 58, at the beginning and the end of the promotion. He managed to show that the same composition could be played to such an extent differently that the listener would almost not be able to recognize that the same piece was performed.

In addition to Scriabin’s music, Robert Selimović composed electronic music for this occasion, and we listened to it while entering the hall and as an accompaniment to my video-work entitled Music Iconostasis of the Painter Alexej Jawlensky. The audience was greeted by the publisher representative Mrs. Đurđica Vuković, and the Editor Andrija Tunjić was the first to speak about my book, while remembering my beginnings. Prof. Zlatko Kauzlarić Atač was the book reviewer and he followed (he was also the current Director of the Postgraduate Studies at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and the President of my Doctoral Dissertation Evaluation and Defense Committee) and Prof. Gašparović was the last to present my book—it is worth mentioning that his speech was as interesting as his playing the piano. After all presenters, I could hardly wait for a moment to say something as well, because I finally found myself in the favorite situation when like reproductive artist I could interpret my own work. Prof. Atač’s speech was later published in the journal Riječi, while the news of the promotion was conveyed by the magazine Vijenac.

In the audience family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

In the audience family, colleagues, friends and art lovers

It amazed me how many people came to the promotion because I was aware that this was my first book, hoping that the hall would be at least comfortably filled. So I could not believe it when I saw that there were not enough chairs and that a part of the audience would be standing! I had a wonderful time with my family and friends, but also my professors and colleagues; even one Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts expressed interest in my book by joining us. I thank everyone for coming, I have never felt so much good energy in my entire professional life!

Trip to Moscow to attend a conference organized to mark the 100th anniversary of establishment of the Scriabin Museum

It is a New Year’s Eve and it is the last moment to say goodbye—can it be done better than by remembering the highlights of 2018? Of course, for me it was the participation in a conference organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Memorial Museum of Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, the famous Russian composer and pianist. Since I devoted to his mystic chord the entire first chapter of my book Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art: Chromatic fantasies of the Composer Alexander Scriabin, Painter Alexej Jawlensky and Pianist Ivo Pogorelich, the Scriabin Museum invited me to Moscow to present the results of my work, and to listen to what other artists and researchers have to say about Scriabin’s art. The title of the chapter is Alexander Scriabin’s Mystic Chord as a Marionette of Heinrich von Kleist, because in mystic chord I discerned a figure in motion that comes to life the moment Scriabin, like a puppeteer, from the center of his spiritual creation manages the world of sounds.

Walking around Moscow at night is a wonderful experience due to an unusual warmth radiated by this often freezing city

Vers la flamme like the flaming form of the Saint Basil’s Cathedral

After visiting Moscow, it seems to me that the mobility of the mystic chord, besides in the urban structure of this city, may even more likely have its origin in the blazing form of the Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Thus the decision to project fire during my elaboration of Scriabin’s compositions Vers la flamme (Toward the Flame) and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire in this context also proved to be appropriate—obviously neither Stravinsky was far from the same idea when he composed his world known masterpiece Firebird. It seems to me that in this picturesque church many Russian artists have found a spiritual drive for their artistic concepts, and as it is located at the very origin of Moscow, I cannot escape the impression that precisely this church is the eternal hearth of all Russians, having the power to thaw even the coldest hearts during the endless winter nights. However, I noticed the greatest interest of the audience when I presented the last picture—Sir James Fraser’s spiral illusion, and only now I realize that long before my trip to Moscow, by choosing this pictorial example, I had anticipated my future experience of the rhythm, harmony and melody of the city in which numerous Russian artists had been creating their greatest works (read more in Part 1 of this travelogue).

new acquaintances and friendships

Let’s get back to the conference—it was wonderful to exchange ideas with museum staff and professors from the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories. On top of that, the place in the conference schedule reserved for my lecture was indeed a great honour: on the second day, the first lecture was given by Mo. Atanas Kurtev—Fellow of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts and world known pianist who teaches at numerous francophone European Conservatories, after his lecture I was the one to present my work on mystic chord, and then the podium was reserved for Mr. Alexander Serafimovich Scriabin, PhD—Scriabin’s descendant and the President of the Scriabin Fund in Moscow and the Honorary President of the UK based Scriabin Association. As I do not speak Russian, I prepared my lecture in English and sent the text to the Scriabin Museum, and colleague Areg Mekhakyan, who—in addition to preparing an extremely interesting lecture on the connection between Scriabin’s music and Eastern philosophy—was kind to translate it into Russian in order to be able to simultaneously read part by part during my presentation. This is why everyone expected me to speak English, not knowing that as expression of respect and gratitude I prepared the first few sentences in fluent Russian (I practiced proper accents for a week). I will never forget the spontaneous smile of the audience as a reaction to that surprise. Everyone was very friendly during the conference: Mr. Vladimir Popkov, the Head of the Scientific Research Department, made sure that everything develops smoothly from the first invitation letter until departure from Moscow, and one of the most fascinating people I had a chance to meet was Mrs. Valentina Vassilyevna Rubtsova, the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Music.

Real life stories are often like fairy-tales

Every story that resembles a fairy-tale always has an unexpected epilogue, so this one is no different: when I returned to Zagreb, colleagues from the Scriabin Museum contacted me to inform me that on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Museum they would like to publish my entire essay on mystic chord in Russian! Since translating into a foreign language is the greatest dream of all authors, I immediately started working as 80 pages urgently needed to be translated into English so that the Museum would have enough time to translate it into Russian and publish it next year. The indication that the New Year could be as good as the past one is the best possible ending of 2018, so in Scriabin’s spirit I wish you to fulfill all of your chromatic fantasies and all the best in 2019!

Real life stories are often like fairy-tales

Every story that resembles a fairy-tale always has an unexpected epilogue, so this one is no different: when I returned to Zagreb, colleagues from the Scriabin Museum contacted me to inform me that on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Museum they would like to publish my entire essay on mystic chord in Russian! Since translating into a foreign language is the greatest dream of all authors, I immediately started working as 80 pages urgently needed to be translated into English so that the Museum would have enough time to translate it into Russian and publish it next year. The indication that the New Year could be as good as the past one is the best possible ending of 2018, so in Scriabin’s spirit I wish you to fulfill all of your chromatic fantasies and all the best in 2019!

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Trip to Moscow to attend a conference organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Scriabin Museum

It is October and I am finally in Moscow, a city that I have always wanted to visit because this is where my favorite composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin lived and worked (Moscow, January 6, 1872—Moscow, April 27, 1915). His apartment is located right next to Arbat Street, which has been described in numerous Russian literary works, and since Bulgakov in his mystical novel The Master and Margarita even evoked a flight over it, I decided that the chosen hotel would have to be in it, or at least in the closest possible neighborhood (I still hoped that, unlike the poet Homeless and editor Berlioz, I would avoid a sudden encounter with the devil). Realizing that the hotel I liked was located in the Composer’s Street, there was no longer any doubt where to stay, and the Google Maps showed that Scriabin’s and Pushkin’s museums were only a two or three minute walk away.

The famous Arbat Street in which the main protagonists of numerous Russian literary works spent unforgettable moments

Synesthesia-based interdisciplinarity

The building where Scriabin lived is completely transformed into his Memorial Museum. On the ground floor there is a hall for chamber concerts, exhibitions, lectures, etc., while on the first floor one can enjoy the original preserved Scriabin’s apartment and his Bechstein piano, which later played numerous famous pianists (Sofronitsky, Neuhaus, Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Pletnev, etc.). The adjacent building has also recently been refurbished in order to create a bigger concert hall (it is necessary to pass the courtyard to get there), and it is worth mentioning that the hall is enriched with light effects, reminding us that Scriabin was a visionary far ahead of his of time, laying the foundations of the modern light-show. It is commonly believed that Scriabin, influenced by synaesthesia—a phenomenon characterised by the interaction of the senses, became aware that each musical tonality corresponds to a certain colour. Following this idea, in his famous composition Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, he composed a section for light organ in order to translate musical harmonies into color structures.  (more on the matter in my book Abstract Reproductive as Productive Art). Consequently, his colour system, grounded in Newton’s optics, is in harmony with the circle of quints (a five tone span), which is demonstrated on a light device from the early 20th century (picture with colorful light bulbs).

Moscow as a huge Fibonacci spiral

This trip once again confirmed that it is highly desirable to travel to the city where an artist lived and worked. Just like in Prague, where it becomes clear that Kafka’s The Metamorphosis could not have been written anywhere else, in Moscow it becomes clear that Scriabin’s flexible melody structures, rich in chromatics and thus challenging for the performer’s memory, may have its origins in the urban structure of his city. It was really difficult to develop a sense of space, i.e. to determine the north and the south; in fact in Moscow it is almost impossible to orient at first. Therefore, if I had to describe Moscow in one word, it would be the word “maelstrom.” The moment you immerse in the spirit and essence of this city, you feel that—not even knowing how—you have suddenly found yourself in a huge Fibonacci spiral, and in that particular moment the only thing you can do is to close circle by circle step by step, in the rhythm of Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2., until you reach the very point of its origin, where at once you get overwhelmed with the shine of the flaming and picturesque beauty of Saint Basil’s Cathedral. It must be that Ivan the Terrible was not so terrible after all, leaving such a fabulous building behind, but the moment you reluctantly decide to leave, you realize that Shostakovich’s elegant waltz has turned into Khachaturian’s fateful three-fourths tact, and in this masked acceleration, to me it is still not clear how after Red Square I found myself in front of the Bolshoi Theater, because I was sure it was on the opposite side. 

Transience of fame

The story is already too long for today, and the goal was not to document every single detail of the trip (much less in the chronological order), but to convey a breath of atmosphere and inspire someone else to travel to Moscow and get acquainted with the character and work of artist known for an unusual destiny, because just a few were so famous like Scribin during their lifetimes, and so quickly forgotten after death.

Transience of fame

The story is already too long for today, and the goal was not to document every single detail of the trip (much less in the chronological order), but to convey a breath of atmosphere and inspire someone else to travel to Moscow and get acquainted with the character and work of artist known for an unusual destiny, because just a few were so famous like Scribin during their lifetimes, and so quickly forgotten after death.

You may also like our other publications…

Synthesis of Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich in a virtual installation

In my doctoral research, which I conducted at the Zagreb Arts Academy from October 2010 to June 2013, the analysis of artistic achievements of the composer Alexander Scriabin, painter Alexej Jawlensky and pianist Ivo Pogorelich was an introduction to my practical work. I was aiming to synthesize knowledge gained from five branches of art (painting , music, literature, architecture and dance), but also from art theory and philosophy, as well as from science. The transfer of knowledge led me to a better understanding of art and numerous artistic practices and helped me build the concept of my own artwork as the final dialectical synthesis and the completion of my research. Thus, in the abstract virtual space a multidisciplinary light installation was created—it was designed for Pogorelich’s performance of Scriabin’s piano pieces, with a simultaneous projection of Jawlensky’s painting series entitled Abstract Heads.

Multidisciplinary virtual light installation designed during my doctoral studies at the Zagreb Arts Academy

Meeting of painting and music at THE common platform

I studied these previously unrelated artists (Scriabin, Jawlensky and Pogorelich) and their work together hoping to arrive at the common platform where I think painting and music meet. Thus my installation purports to show the productive aspects in reproductive art and is built as a counterpoint of independent ideas interacting in a common thought structure. It is set up on Lake Lugano, which is not a mere coincidence when we know that all three artists began showing a growing interest in abstraction in Switzerland. Furthermore, my 3D multimedia projection sets up Scriabin’s serialism in music in space, and the pictorial serialism of Jawlensky is presented so as to show how it occupies time. Simultaneously, I achieve a sense of simulated motion through a system of lasers responding to Pogorelich’s changing body gravity. The lasers are my interpretation of Scriabin’s colour system, taking as base the quint circle and Isaac Newton’s optics. As this project will not in actuality be played out so that real people could in reality assume their assigned roles, as a multidisciplinary author I am responsible for the entire creative input. The visual content and computer projection are accompanied by my own performance of Scriabin’s composition for the piano Feuillet d’album, Op. 58. Originally, however, the installation was designed for Pogorelich’s performance of Scriabin’s piano pieces.

Screening at the International Experimental Video-Art Festival

After the screening at the Zagreb Arts Academy, I did not want my video-work to end up in an archive room, so I was thrilled when International ArtExpo in collaboration with MECA (Mediterráneo Centro Artístico) selected my installation to be presented during the International Experimental Video-Art Festival Pixels of Identities, which was to be held in October 2014 in the Museum of the City of Almeria in Spain. The Museum won two awards in 2004 (PAD and ARCO), and in 2005 the museum building was a finalist in the Fostering Arts and Design (FAD) Awards. Also, in 2008 it won an honorary prize in the European Museum of the Year competition (organized by the European Museum Forum), and as a public institution founded in 1934, it celebrated its 80th birthday in 2014. During the anniversary celebration my light installation was projected.

ITSLIQUID interviewed two authors

When I thought there was nothing more to be done to make the story of my light installation the one with a beautiful ending, shortly before the closure of the festival I was approached by the festival partner ITSLIQUID (International Platform for Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design). I was asked for an interview so that wider audience would be informed of my recent work, which their expert team rated as highly interesting.

ITSLIQUID interviewed two artists

When I thought there was nothing more to be done to make the story of my light installation the one with a beautiful ending, shortly before the closure of the festival I was approached by the festival partner ITSLIQUID (International Platform for Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design). I was asked for an interview so that wider audience would be informed of my recent work, which their expert team rated as highly interesting.

You may also like our other publications…