Experimental Sound Laboratory at MOMus – Museum of Modern Art – Costakis Collection  

Led by Andrey Smirnov 

September – October 2023: “Sound Revolution” lecture series  

Electronic sound, its history, its dimensions and connection with the present constitute the triptych of these seminar constituted of 4 lectures entitled “Experimental Sound Laboratory at MOMus – Museum of Modern Art – Costakis Collection Led by Andrey Smirnov” 

The most prolific and adventurous period in the history of sound experimentation and musical technology in Russian Avant-Garde, but also in the broader European Historical Avant-Gardes, is without a doubt that which ranges from 1910 to the end of the 1930s, when musicians turned to studying Physics and the development of pioneering ideas. Mathematicians started studying music theory and the artists that had understood the major principles of acoustics worked on new methods for the synthesis and transformation of sound.  

The Experimental Sound Laboratory at MOMus – Museum of Modern Art – Costakis Collection is based on the historical documents and original electronic musical instruments from the personal collection of Andrey Smirnov relating to that period, and aims at studying the Avant-Garde sound culture and to revive as well as advance the accomplishments of related technologies that proved to be many decades ahead of their time. The value and meaning of these ideas highly exceed the sphere of Russian Avant-Garde. Today, we usually utilize them not being aware of their origins, while multiple ideas evolve in a new, creative manner.  

The Experimental Sound Laboratory will develop educational programs in the form of lectures and workshops, targeted to musicians and music historians as well as to the general public, with a distinct interest in Russian Avant-Garde, sound and new media art, electronic and electroacoustic music.  

Curriculum Vitae 

Andrey Smirnov is a musical artist and researcher, known worldwide for his innovative teaching method and his research in the fields of electronic music and the history of Avant-Garde music alongside visual arts. He is the founder of the Theremin Centre and has been the Head of Sound Laboratory at the Rodchenko Art – School in Moscow. He teaches courses on the history and aesthetics of electro-acoustic music, sound design and composition, new musical interfaces and physical computing.  

Andrey has conducted many workshops and seminars, targeted both at professionals and the general public, in the USA, Europe and Russia and he has participated at significant festivals and conferences.  

Andrey Smirnov is the author of the books «Sound In Z: Experiments in Sound and Electronic Music in Early 20th Century Russia» (Walther Koenig & Sound and Music, London, 2013) and «In Search of Lost Sound. Experimental Sound Culture in Russia and USSR in the first half of the 20th century» (Moscow, GARAGE, 2020) (The Book of the Year Award, Innovation 2021). 

From September 2023, Andrey works as a special scientific associate at Momus Museum of Modern Art, Costakis Collection in Thessaloniki.  

Detailed Lectures’ Program  

All lectures will be held in English without interpretation.  

Experimental Sound Laboratory 

Seminar; Lecture Series 2023: “Sound Revolution” 

September – October 2023  

“The Rhythmicon: Electrification of Rhythm” 

Saturday 07 October 2023 | 12:00-14:00 

MOMus Museum of Modern Art, Costakis Collection  

21st Kolokotroni Street, Moni Lazariston, 56430, Stavroupoli  

The story of the Rhythmicon - the world’s first rhythm machine, developed in the US in 1931 by the Russian inventor Leon Theremin and American composer Henry Cowell. The project was financially supported by Charles Ives and realized in collaboration with Ukraine born composer and theorist Joseph Schillinger. Henry Cowell wrote a number of compositions for it, including Rhythmicana (Concerto for Rhythmicon and Orchestra (1931)) and Music for Violin and Rhythmicon (1932). Though it was never mass produced, the Rhythmicon is widely acknowledged as the world’s first device – able to play polyrhythms in loops. Joseph Schillinger calculated that it would take 455 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes to play all the rhythm combinations available on the Rhythmicon, assuming an average duration of ten seconds for each combination. Today, its uniqueness and rarity continue to hold a fascination for musicians across the world. One of two survived machines will be presented to the audience. 

Participation Information: 

• Registrations at info.modern@momus.gr or at +30 2310 589143, up until Thursday the 28th of September 2023 at 14:00. An order of precedence will be followed.  
• An attendance certificate will be given to participants 
• Participation fee:  
• €80 / person,  
• €60 / person for students, upon presentation of a student ID 
• Depending on availability, the cost of participation at a 2-hour lecture is €30/person and €20 for students, upon presentation of a student ID