Sound collector Egor Tkachenko created a fountain that does not exist

The fountain was discovered in the master plan of the already defunct theater cosmetics factory. In Soviet times, the All-Russian Theatre Society (WTO) had several enterprises that produced everything necessary for the needs of the theater, for example, makeup, records with theatrical noises. Several rarities were presented in the “Perovsk archive”. There's a hum of a plane, chimes, applause. From the factory of theatrical cosmetics, only the walls and the anniversary album remained, where the daily life of the labor collective was recorded. Modern actors have long used a completely different level of cosmetics. The exhibition presented a specially recreated round makeup box in the spirit of Soviet times.

The factory was built in 1956. Her staff, who worked with chemical dyes, had to have a cultural rest, and the fountain would have been very handy. However, it remained a drawing on paper. After 70 years, it was discovered by means of art, albeit in a tiny room. Even solemnly cut the red ribbon.

In a small room on the pedestal set record player, which became an improvised fountain. On one side of the plate, stylized as ancient, recorded the murmur of water in the fountain (it is called “Ordinary”), and on the second, called “Discourse”, in addition to water, there is also children’s noise of the city. They listened and listened for 5-6 minutes.

Starting in 2021, I started recording sounds, people’s conversations, paying attention to the everyday sounds that accompany us when we go somewhere. Often our ears stop perceiving what is happening around us, such as water in a fountain. And it gives strength and calm, says Yegor Tkachenko. - I'm a composer. And in this project, I took a look at something that...no. With my new work, I wanted to show that there is something lost that we can restore. I listened to a lot of fountains, and I was amazed at how children admire them. And adults pass by indifferently.

I studied the fountains in Perov, recorded field sounds. In the process, I wanted to divide it into two parts – “Ordinary” and “Holiday”. Ordinary is what surrounds us, what we don't hear, because there's a lot of noise around us, and the brain pushes it into the background. We don't notice the beauty around us. The second side of the record is associated with idleness, when you can concentrate on what is happening, enjoy everything that surrounds you. I go and collect the sound. It's like a superpower that lets you hear a lot.

Fountain No. 0 consists of four fountains, all of which are located in Perov. There are many more of them, and there are beautiful ones among them, but they do not function. There is a fountain near the school, visually similar to ours, non-existent. I have noticed that the sound of the fountain depends on its shape.”.