On Air - On Site : 48 Hours of Radio Art

Aired on May 24th 09:00 CEST 2025
Monument of Memory of a Monument
Genre: Soundscape Composition, Spoken Word
Duration: 30 min
Dispersing oneself in search of past selves. A memory of something that did not happen, yet appeared in the eye of the mind. Behind closed lids, on a soft floor, the past unfolds—not as fact, but as sensation. This work attempts to construct a monumental sonic memorial around a past that may or may not have existed. It manifests through sound, improvisation, and voices reading my written, lived memories in words—an auditory imprint of what I saw when looking back in time.
By looping memory, time, and sound, this piece becomes a spoken-word soundscape composition—a radical attempt to make sense of a sublime bodily experience. It questions monuments and ideologies, situating them within a world that oscillates between control and chaos. The vastness of the uncontained mirrors the strength of an individual’s willpower. We hold so much within us and are connected in ways we do not always acknowledge or expect.
The concept of nostalgia of Svetlana Boym, where she discusses the tension between restorative and reflective longing, resonates throughout this work. It does not seek to reconstruct an idealized past but instead reflects on its fractures, its echoes, and the instability of memory itself. The monument in this piece is not fixed; it is transient, ephemeral, existing in the act of remembering and the shared experience of listening. It is an attempt to articulate what cannot fully be grasped—an offering of sound and speech to the uncontainable.

Participants:
Alexandra Shkodrova - vocals and processing
Julie Hasfjord - voice
Phoebe Kirrage - voice
Leah Place - cello
Julia Fuello - voice
Uroš Ðurđević - voice
Felician Erlenburg - voice

Featuring:

Viktoria Nikolova

Viktoria Nikolova is a vocalist, performer, and sound artist based in the Netherlands, working at the intersection of voice, sound, and artistic research. Moving fluidly between experimental performance, improvisation, and sonic storytelling, her work explores memory, mediation, and the transformation of everyday objects into artistic expressions. Blending folklore, electronics, and site-specific practices, she shapes immersive soundscapes and interdisciplinary performances. Her collaborations span contemporary music, opera, and experimental scenes, with projects like the folklore vocal trio Bitter Blossom and the duo Parent. She has performed at Holland Festival, Opera Forward Festival, VoxLAB VårFEST, and more. Alongside her practice, Viktoria is involved in curatorial projects, organizing exhibitions and experimental events. She studied classical singing, graduating Cum Laude from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and holds a degree in Arts, Media, and Society from Leiden University. In 2024, she completed the One-Year Course at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague.🔗 viktorianikolova.com