Listen to the Sound of Fountains
We all carry a unique affection for the cities we inhabit, yet often miss the subtle poetry hidden in their everyday landscapes. Enter Eva Sajanová, an artist who has taken Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, and turned its fountains into living, breathing subjects for a profound artistic exploration.
Her short film, How To Listen To Fountains, is not just a visual display; it’s an invitation to step outside the rush of urban life and enter a childlike state of pure wonder. Sajanová’s work brilliantly demonstrates how to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, granting a sense of life to inanimate objects.
The magic of the film begins with an unexpected visual: a broken piece of tile emerging from a yellow landscape that mimics a construction site. Through stop-motion animation, this simple scene establishes the central premise of the work—the profound realization that every object possesses a soul.
To capture the essence of Bratislava’s water features, Sajanová conducted meticulous documentation. She aligned real-life images of the city’s various fountains with actual recordings of the water flowing, spouting, and rushing. This technique successfully bypasses the overwhelming din of the city, allowing the viewer to focus on what often goes unheard: the delicate sounds of gurgles and trickles.
In our modern, noisy world, these gentle sounds are easily overshadowed, yet Sajanová makes them loud and clear. By isolating and amplifying these unique acoustic details, she transforms the mundane movement of water into a symphony of individual voices.
Each sound recorded is distinct, contributing to the overall vibrancy of the piece. It is through this focused attention that the fountains are truly brought to life, revealing a hidden, struggling vitality beneath the surface of urban noise.
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