The composition Maják, which I sometimes also call Hiort, is inspired by the image of a remote island in the Atlantic - whether in the Hebrides or the Canary Islands. At the end of an old concrete pier, facing the ocean, two possibilities open up: to take a step forward and disappear into the surf of the roaring sea, or to retreat into the shadow of the rocks, where we sense a faded sanctuary of human activity and a gravel path leading into the heart of the island. It is up to us which direction we take.
The inspiration here is the motif of the island as a place of transition (liminal space) and the act of walking as the essence of the journey (present, for example, in the work of R. Long). The theme is also reflected in a true story captured by Irish radio writer E. Coulson (a woman organizing a seminar on conscious dying, the so-called “Death Café,” on a remote Scottish island symbolically and literally encounters death there) or in the British poetic video game Dear Esther, an island walking simulator.
Maják was created in connection with my own research at the intersection of music and audiovisual art. I am fascinated by immersive movement on the border between abstraction and realism, story and its absence, physical and inner matter. I sometimes construct musical compositions similarly to an associative film - but instead of images, I work with live instrumental music.
Premiered August 28, 2025, Tripple Hall Karolina, Ostrava Days 2025, ONO orchestra, cond. by Bruno Ferrandis.
