NERTI
NERTI (a play on Lithuanian words – to dive / to crochet) is an initiative created through cooperation with practitioners from different art fields.
The spinning vinyl record is a contemporary/experimental album NERTI by Lora Kmieliauskaitė. The music of COMPOSERS DOMINYKAS DIGIMAS, cHRISTOPHER fox and KAVEH MIRHOSSEINI is echoed on the hand-woven record covers made by textile artist Morta Jonynaitė, depicting the rhythmic layers intertwined in the musical fabric. This synthesis is complemented by the rippling Nerti II visualisations of cinematographer Eitvydas Doškus. Interdisciplinary art practice is vital in Lora’s works – the integration of music with other arts, and the union of analog and digital media.
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Lora’s story
all the practices that have accompanied me over the recent years have intertwined in a very nice fabric. this whole artistic process became an album NERTI featuring three composers – Kaveh Mirhosseini, Christopher Fox and Dominykas Digimas.
the field recordings made in the Norwegian archipelagos during the polar night unfold in mutuality with the vocal improvisations. the violin here doesn’t resemble the classical manner of performance: at times it’s sinuous, following microtonal Iranian intonations in dialogue with Iranian folk musicians playing qayckack and tamburag in K. Mirhosseini “Illusion”; at other times, it’s slow and cold, echoing the flow of water and undulating along the rhythms of D. Digimas’s homemade instruments. in Ch. Fox’s piece, it’s even illustrative and supports the role of the narrator.
I just wanted to dive into places that are unfamiliar to me – I was interested in narrating musical journeys through collaborations and friendships in music, in search of things that possibly no one will ever manage to write down in an actual musical sheet.
it’s funny to remember now that in the conception of the original idea, I planned to travel through the violin’s soundscape, further and further away from acoustics towards electronics, in search of infinite possibilities and spaces that may open up there. two years later, after listening to the vinyl test version, I realized that electronics and electric sound, in general, were almost gone and that I had gone to a completely different depth, to naked sound, incredible chamberiness, and a quite intimate narrative – one that isn’t covered by any synthetic sounds, but, on the contrary, only nurtured and expanded by whatever was picked up along the way. we all approach or arrive at our inner peace in our ways; this album, I believe, will allow us to grasp a bit of the search for this deeper dive.
an important ambition of the project was to communicate and collaborate with colleagues in the field, breaking away from the established hierarchical power divisions that often hinder the process or prevent all parties involved from engaging equally in the process. shared creative 'weight' expands the creative potential of co-authors and allows them to take a more personal view of the works.
I’m delighted that one of the people who has worked with me on this project and enriched it with their thoughts is the artist Morta Jonynaitė, whose work I have been silently adoring for many years. Morta created special covers for the limited edition NERTI vinyl, where the music was transformed into whole new and different – woven – rhythms.
“swiping the warp with the shuttle, I lead the wefts back and forth, the horizontal thread dives into the mouth of the vertical one. By creating an image in the fabric, I look for a rhythm that captures the sound that Lora creates. our instruments are connected by a similar principle — with taut strings (threads), a constantly struck violin bow (shooter) creates different rhythms that shape the music (image).”
— Morta Jonynaitė
Photos from the Nerti presentation at JMVMC by P. Žižliauskas. Shots from Morta Jonynaitė’s weaving studio by A. Morozovas.
continuing the idea of collaboration, Eitvydas Doškus heard the music and created this film, which I invite you to enjoy. my eyes drown and calm down in these visual rhythms, and I hope yours do, too.