The Neighbours: Forms of Trauma (1945-1989) - Moving through Sound

Supported by Soulpepper Theatre and the Jackman Humanities Institute, the multimedia installation, The Neighbours: Forms of Trauma (1945-1989), by Lilia Topouzova, Krasimira Butseva, and Julian Chehirian constitutes the public-facing art component of the international academic workshop Authoritarianism: Lives, Legacies, Trauma, led by Professors Joshua Arthurs and Lilia Topouzova.

The installation is built upon 40 interviews conducted by Professor Lilia Topouzova with survivors from the Bulgarian gulag (1945-1962). The project is the outcome of 20 years of scholarly research and nine years of artistic collaboration.

Through object, video and sound interventions, the artists recreate the survivors’ homes and evoke the material and psychological space where the interviews unfolded. Staged within them are fragments from oral histories, field recordings and video from former camp sites. The media conflux evokes the unstable boundaries between spaces of home and the psychologically proximate sites of violence.

The installation is available to view September 25-29 from 1-5 pm. On September 28, 2023, the organizers will host a public event exploring authoritarianism through voice and sound. This event includes a guided tour of the installation, a live musical performance featuring works by composers who experienced authoritarian regimes, and a panel discussion.