Sister of a ball boy, a poem by V. Leac

A performance for Art’s Birthday 2019 (fragment)
Anamaria Pravicencu, Maria Balabaș, Laurențiu Coțac, V. Leac
(8’43”, January 2019)

sister of a ball boy

a poem by V. Leac

.sometimes i wish i were a lost lighter
a plain lighter like the ones of yore
with a green matte body, which, whenever you light it,
gives out a red flame, as large as the capital letter O.
but i think it would be more interesting if i were lighter fluid.
were i such i would not like to be inside a see-through
lighter, the ones with a flower inside
many play (without realizing) with such a lighter
they find it amusing how the flower moves through the fluid
how the fluid moves from one compartment to another
no way i would wish to be the fluid
in a lighter like that
but i would very much like to be the fluid
in a matte plastic lighter
and then those that are in the habit of playing
wouldn’t know which section has more fluid
and nobody would realize when i am really almost over
when i think about this i feel i’m going crazy with happiness.

From the volume Toți sunt îngrijorați, TracusArte Publishing, Collection NEO, 2010, 2015. Translated in English by Alexandra M. Păun.

The poetry of V. Leac seems suspended somewhere in between humor, absurdity, and a light and tender perplexity in the face of those minuscule exceptional instances in one’s life. Every next step is a trustworthy transgression toward an uncertain, promising and yet deluded future. In the shape of a musical/sonic performance, we take upon ourselves to read his poetry, with warm loudness and other means tangible while standing on our toes: a performance in the guise of a duo of voices for a spoken-choir simulacrum, using drawing as percussion, some recordings from inside a piano, and a double bass.

Maria Balabaș – voice, composed field recordings
Laurențiu Coțac – double bass, composed field recordings
Anamaria Pravicencu – voice, percussion (drawing), composed field recordings

A project initiated by Anamaria Pravicencu.

The performance took place the 17th of January, 2019 at Apollo 111 Theater in Bucharest in celebration of Art’s Birthday and it was broadcasted live at www.arsacustica.wordpress.com
Broadcast made by Radio România Cultural.

Maria Balabaș is a journalist and musician. She is the host of the Dimineața crossover show (Morning Crossover) from Radio România Cultural and has created projects devoted to new forms of radio creation (Generația sonoră/Sound Generation). In 2014 she was nominated for Prix Europa (Berlin) for the documentary Maria Tănase – Urban Soundtrack for a Diva. She initiated musical groups such as Avant’n’Gard and Soare Staniol, inspired by improvisational techniques, electronic music, acoustic music. Creates installations generated by the artistic interest in the form of field-specific auditory memory.

Laurențiu Coțac is a double bass player active in free improvisation, sound art and field recording. He is currently performing in Hyperion Ensemble, And Then This and Bastos, among other projects, and he works in film and documentary sound production, on-site capture and editing/mixing.

Anamaria Pravicencu studied drawing and sculpture, with an interest for sound installation. Since 2006 she’s in charge with the artistic direction of Jumătatea plină, promoting sonic and musical experiment (Sâmbăta sonoră) through constant and distinct programs. She is the curator of the SEMI SILENT portfolio and she keeps producing sound work.

V. Leac lives and works between Arad and Bucharest. Published poetry : Seymour: sonată pentru cornet de hârtie, Vinea Publishing (2005, 2006, 2013); Dicționar de vise, Cartea Românească Publishing, 2006; Lucian, CDPL, 2009; Toți sunt îngrijorați, TracusArte Publishing, Collection NEO, 2010, 2015; Unchiul este încântat, Charmides Publishing, 2013. Founding member of the literary collectiv Celebrul animal and of the magazine Ca și Cum. Founder of MOI in Timișoara in 2012, together with Bianca Baila; curator of W.A.D. Arad, 2014. Films: 2014, The Village Drones (I); 2015, The Village Drones (II); Trasee descriptive cu intrus.
His latest volume, Monoideal, published by Nemira in 2018, was granted the Radio România Cultural Award for Poetry.