Communicating the Unique Resources and Cultural Traditions of Beringia to a Global Audience

Partners: Found Sound Nation and the Alaska Native Heritage Center
Contact: Elena Moon Park
Duration: 2 Years (2018-2019)

Humans respond to and learn from a variety of communication modes. This unique project will bring together local artists, musicians, scientists, and storytellers from Alaska’s Seward Peninsula with other artists, musicians, producers, and filmmakers in the U.S. and Russia to create socially and ecologically informed art (e.g., film, songs, live performance, oral history). The purpose of this interwoven suite of artworks is to (1) examine the history and future of the region’s natural resources, (2) preserve and amplify cultural traditions and practices of the region, and (3) broadcast the region’s unique and international significance to a global audience. The works will be presented online and in a number of live performances.

Russian Component: This project includes a team of three Russian musicians from Siberia and Tatarstan. The team will join Found Sound in Russia to record collaborations with traditional Russian musicians. The output of the work (performances, installations, and films) will be displayed and performed at Russian cultural institutions in Irkutsk, Kazan, and Moscow. Team members include

• Alexander Arkhincheev (a renowned throat singer and mohin huur, “horsehead fiddle” player from Irkutsk).

• Mitya Burmistrov (a producer, sound collector, and performer from Kazan)

• Daryana Antipova (a Krasnoyarsk-based drummer, vocalist, and journalist).

traditional dancing

NPS