TOTAL is a sound work about the cultural, social and personal relevance of sports, now and in the past. School practice, competitions, tournaments and social phenomena, all come out of a subjective memory as a rapid succession of sequences in which sport remains the central element. TOTAL starts as a pluri-vocal confession about childhood memories that haunt one’s relationship with sport. It develops as a fast metamorphic polyphony of exhortations, criticisms and sanctions. In the end, it arrives at an oblique comparison about the relevance of contemporary art vs the impact of sport culture. Why is sport a metaphor for life?
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Cristian Fierbințeanu is a Brussels based independent artist, active in music, sound & video art. He is a member of art-punk band Fierbințeanu and has performed on European scenes & released music on independent labels. The works of Fierbințeanu have been presented or awarded in international art festivals – Phonurgia Nova (Paris), The Prague Biennale, Dvorak Marathon remixed (Konzerthaus, Berlin), Grand Prix Nova (Bucharest), Nuit de la fiction sonore à Arles (France), Arts and Science days (St. Etienne, France), 60 Seconds Radio (Canada). “An artistic duo that sincerely deserves total fascination” – Art7; “Un auteur à suivre” – Phonurgia Nova.
Written, performed, recorded, and produced by Cristian Fierbințeanu for SEMI SILENT, in the frame of SONIC SPORTS.
Illustration: Eleni Dafini Bacula
English translation (with Deepl)
— Come on, let’s start slowly with a light jog, everyone!
1. Raise your arms forward and up!;
2. Return to starting position!;
3. Bend your knees while raising your arms!;
4. Return to starting position!
1-2. Lunge to the left while raising your arms to the side!;
3-4. Return to starting position!;
5-8. Same movement, to the right!
— Hey, listen. Do you guys ever tell your parents what you do in gym class at school? Because I figure your parents must ask you, “Hey, what did you do at school today?” Right? So, do you ever say, “Hey, look, in gym class… Dad, Mom, look, in gym class we did… um, running, we did the frog jump, we did the trunk stretch by arching, falling into a bridge, side return, hands up,’ and so on… Do you ever say that? Because maybe they imagine at home, poor things, that you’re skipping gym class here or playing football or I don’t know what’s going on! Maybe they imagine that the teacher never comes to class and no one supervises you, and you just hang out on your own like that, and maybe you don’t even do sports and you’re getting fat and have these big bellies because of the teacher, who, well, instead of coming, is sitting around drinking and smoking somewhere! Do you guys say this stuff at home?
And then the kid says to me, “Well, I don’t tell him, because Dad only asks me about math — that’s all he wants to know about what’s going on with me at school!” So that’s what they talk about at home. And then I asked him, ‘Well, OK, let’s say you did tell him, right? What would he say then?’
Well, the says, ‘Well, sir, if I told him something like that, he’d say, <What are you doing, man? Are you kidding me? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?>’ So there you go: that is, essentially, how this topic related to sports and what happens at school during PE class is handled at home! In other words, it isn’t discussed at all! So we don’t talk about this at all, just to be clear! That’s it!
1. Raise your arms forward and up!;
2. Return to starting position!;
3. Bend your knees while raising your arms!;
4. Return to starting position!
1-2. Lunge to the left, raising arms to the sides!;
3-4. Return to starting position!;
5-8. Same movement, to the right!
1-2. Bend torso forward, palms on the floor!
3. …
3. Extend torso, hands on hips!
4. Return to starting position!
1. From a standing position, long jump, raising arms to the sides!
2. Return to standing
3. Jump with knees up
4. Return to a wide-legged standing position
For me, this whole thing with sports, with the spectacle of sports, is tied to a memory I have of my grandpa, a huge Rapid fan, who back in the late ’80s — when things were rough in Romania and people were standing in endless lines for a bit of food, and when it wasn’t safe to talk about that stuff in public — took me to a Rapid game at Giulești! The game wasn’t anything special — it was kind of boring — but at one point the ref called a call against Rapid; I don’t remember what it was, and I don’t remember who they were playing! But what’s certain is that the guys in the stands didn’t like it; they got really upset at the ref and started booing, whistling, and… And at one point, someone in the stands shouted at the referee loudly, several times, “Hey, he filled your bag with chicken, man! He filled your bag with chicken, man! That’s why you’re calling it!” And he kept repeating that thing about the bag of chicken. I remember looking at my grandpa, who was laughing along with the guys in the stands. And then, after the game, on the way home, I asked him, “So, what’s the deal? Wasn’t it bad to talk about stuff like that in public?” And my grandpa, to make me forget about it, to get past it so I wouldn’t talk about it at school or anything, laughed and said, “Ah, those rascals of mine from Rapid!”
I recently told this little story to a friend in France, and she asked me, “So, this is how you learned about your country’s politics?” And when I heard the question phrased that way, in modern bureaucratic language, I realized that she’ll never really understand what it was all about—and, well, maybe she can’t! That’s just how it is!
— How wonderful it would be if art could still provoke reactions the way sports do! Music, sound, radio, experimental art — in any form: I don’t think it’s possible anymore, if it ever was! I don’t know of any artists who can now manage to evoke such powerful and authentic emotions for so many people at once and for such a long time, as some athletes do and as happens in certain competitions. Likewise, passions, discussions, spontaneous public displays, and the creation and emergence of communities — as sports manage to do — are rarer on the artistic side. The sporting spectacle, in any form and from any field, has something so obvious, indisputable, and relevant that it blows away any comparison with today’s artistic spectacle, whether we’re talking about mass entertainment or something more elite. The most recent globally visible artistic event was the opening ceremony of an Olympic sporting event. Note that this was just one of many sporting events of the year, so not a singular occurrence. And even within that event, the artistic content came mainly from the past, not the present. Just compare today’s sports with those of the ’70s and ’80s! It’s ridiculous! Meanwhile, the artistic content presented came mainly from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. There you have it!
— All right, that’s enough for today — everyone to the locker room! Come on!
— Everyone to the showers! Heh, heh, heh, heh!
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