We invite you to the second edition of the concert series pssst, curated by the ooo Association as part of Trenčín 2026.
Music has only one problem — it needs to be listened to. Listening, in the sense of a tireless struggle with the attention of the mind. Music is like a story, and without hearing it in its entirety, its meaning remains hidden. Having time to listen is a luxury. pssst is a concert series dedicated to the presentation of contemporary (or recently forgotten) music performed by top artists from Slovakia and abroad. Compositional approaches and new instrument making have never been as diverse as they are today. Experimentation, free improvisation, new instruments, interactivity — these are but faint outlines of the substrate in which living contemporary art takes place.
The second edition of the pssst series focuses on the Object. Musical tradition is closely tied to the construction of musical instruments — centuries of cultivated technologies refined to produce pure, bright, and, equally importantly in pre-electric times, loud tones. This pursuit gave rise to such objects as today’s piano, clarinet, tuba, or bell. When, then, does an object become an instrument — or, conversely, when does an instrument become an object? We will show how the former Baťa factory building can play, how it can be listened to, and how even a trip to Partizánske can itself become music.
List of artists and works:
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Tom Johnson: Nine Bells (1979) – Elia Moretti, bells – Slovak premiere – 50’
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Emilie Škrijelj / Michael Thieke / Tom Malmendier: BRUINE – performative sound installation – 45’
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Marek Kundlák / pupils of SZUŠ Atelér V. Bielice: Factor(h)ry – concert performance – 15’
WHEN: November 15, 2025 — doors open 12:30
WHERE: Fabrika 61, Nitrianska 61/61, Partizánske
ADMISSION: limited capacity, free registration at https://tootoot.fm/en/events/68d3f78a8177f70e3763a9bd
For the second installment of the pssst series, subtitled OBJECT, we have selected works and artistic approaches that treat the musical instrument in ways that shift it into a new perspective.
Tom Johnson’s composition Nine Bells (1979) uses an apparently simple sound source — the bell. Nine suspended bells create a new, spatial musical instrument in which the performer must move. His movements and dynamics directly shape the resulting sound. Nine Bells will receive its Slovak premiere, performed by Elia Moretti (IT).
The trio Michael Thieke (DE), Emilie Škrijelj (FR), and Tom Malmendier (FR), in their work BRUINE (2023), use classical musical instruments played through extended techniques. The sounds of their instruments are captured by microphones and re-emitted through loudspeakers made of various objects placed among the trio. These loudspeakers create a sound environment that behaves as the musicians play.
Commissioned by pssst, Marek Kundlák has assembled a student orchestra that will perform on self-made (DIY) musical instruments his poem Factor(h)ry for the former factory. The new instruments — crafted by students from construction materials, plastic pipes, metal bins, and parts of the factory’s inventory — are the right kind of objects through which they revive the factory’s sonic memory.
