about1

My name is Jeremi Biziuk (he/him, they/them). I’ve been born in Poland, and since roughly 2017 have been living in the Netherlands.

Within my practice, I devote myself to reinventing and synthetically crafting a personal tradition, a ritual, which is inspired by the most fundamental elements of pagan practices from Eastern Europe, and translates them through contemporary tools and a point of view which is fundamentally mine.

Part of this practice is sewing and scrambling costumes, masks, and wearable textiles which I sew by hand. On one hand, these are used during my performances as a tool which helps me enter a zone of comfort and focus on the act. I remind myself of the time in my past when I studied improvised music and the feeling of loosing myself in time while on the stage. I try to recreate this feeling in my solo acts, where the cover I put on myself lets me get rid of the worry of gaze and the public and lets me put my whole body and mind towards the ritual I am conducting.

The other part of my practice is mainly focused on the synthetic sounds and their modulation. My fascination lies in the contrast and the complementary nature between what's considered synthetic and organic, natural, traditional. Not only do I search for that in my costumes, inspired initially by my slavic heritage which are developing more towards contemporary fashion, but mainly through self made analogue synthesizers.

These sound generating and making objects are considered by me as small organisms I grow in my studio. Their modular nature allows me to grow them and expand on them with time, adjusting them to the occasion, and letting them naturally grow in the direction they choose. They're made using openly available circuits and my limited knowledge, tweaked to my needs. They are self operating machines that create sounds, rhythms, and tones without human interference, influenced by various factors such as light density, movement, provided data, or their simple circuits. If needed, they can be interacted directly with on the spot, thus I can direct and create sonic pieces using them during my live acts and in my studio.

A strong core of my practice is a working method which is both accessible and communal. I dwell deep and engage with the open source, DIY, and commonly shared knowledge shared by the community working with modular synths and other sound tools. I believe in the value of creating within a community which by nature relies on sharing its knowledge and strives away from the gate keeping nature the mainstream capitalist society imposes on us.

My inspiration came from the lack of grounding I found for myself in my homecountry. Having always felt like I don't fit where I'm from, I tried searching for a place which would feel more welcome. Since I've moved abroad, I have realised that this place is something I have to create, cultivate, and take care of myself. I became interested in the pagan practices long lost within the polish culture, as opposed to the nowadays mainstream notion of conservatism, which unfortunately grows prevalent in various places around. This blank sheet of little known knowledge is something I decided to draw on, reimagining what my own, contemporary tradition, would look like. The rhythms I create with my sounds are more like organisms, they're not groovy, but they definitely have a rhythm of their own. They're not necessarily to dance to, but more to let yourself go and get taken by their own tempo and noise. I want to convey my feelings of not belonging, struggle, and searching for something organic with the raw sounds and tactile textures.