Anton Lapov (Makarevych)
Affective Mobilization
Anton Lapov (Anton Makarevych), media artist, computer musician and curator
Anton Lapov (Anton Makarevych) is a media artist, computer musician and curator from Ukraine. He has been curating and participating in events in the field of experimental electronic music and media art in Ukraine and abroad for more than a decade. Lapov’s artistic practice combines methodologies of humanities and critical theory with computational aesthetics ideas. At the moment, Lapov works on interactive movement-sensing audio environments with the premises that such an artistic medium can stimulate political articulation and production of new non-logocentric knowledge. Beside his artistic practice, Lapov also investigates and archives contemporary Ukrainian sociocultural history. During 2011–2015, he worked in different museum institutions in Ukraine as a scientific assistant. In 2015–2022, he was a researcher in the Open Archive of Ukrainian Media-Art. Lapov holds a MFA degree in Art (with concentration in Digital Technology) from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in Prehistory and Archaeology from National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.”
Project Description
During virtual DUSS residency, I would like to continue my work on the ongoing project “Affective Mobilization” and realize its new version. In this project, I research possibilities of producing non-logocentric knowledge and political articulation by means of enactive meaning-making within movement-sensing audio environments. “Affective Mobilization” responds to recent geopolitical militarization escalated by russian invasion of Ukraine and reflects my own experience as a Donbas refugee since 2014. Hence, the initial ethos of the project—raising awareness about the situation in Ukraine and provoking reflections about collective responsibility for the future of a world in a new global conflict. While the previous version of the project was devoted mainly to the development of techno-aesthetic infrastructure, during virtual DUSS residency I will focus on its methodological improvement and historiographical, theoretical and political contextualization. In particular, I will work on creation of affective sensorimotor vocabulary that might suggest audio-choreographic modality of protest and resistance which draws on the historical context of anti-colonial struggle against Moscow/USSR hegemony in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Resulting new version of “Affective Mobilization” will be presented as an interactive audio installation and a series of performative sessions within it. It will be supplemented by the publication of work-in-progress reports in different formats: (audio)papers, podcasts, and/or multimedia releases.