Mirela
Ivičević

Mirela Ivičević’s works are characterized by rapid shifts and surprising twists. Variegated sonic material appears in clusters, is woven into itself and re-differentiated, drawing the audience into an energetic sonic melee occasionally interspersed with delicate melodies. This complexity plays a central role in the artist’s work.

Ivičević is interested in linking various sounds together and creating a space where they can coexist successfully. The Split, Croatia-born composer, who was living in Vienna prior to her Artists-in-Berlin program residency, pursues this interest not only on a sonic level: “Perhaps because I grew up in a multiethnic family in a multi-ethnic state, or perhaps not, in any case, I am increasingly interested in searching for what links different sounds (or people) together, or what makes seemingly similar structures vary from one another.”
Curiosity is another impulse in her work. She seeks out the challenge of facing the unknown and the fear of it; she sees overcoming this fear as highly enriching and thus even motivating for others. This thirst for adventure is also evident in her work. Accordingly, Ivičević—co-founder and member of the Viennese ensemble Black Page Orchestra and co-curator and producer from 2009–17 of the contemporary music festival Dani Nove Glazbe Split in Croatia—introduces listeners to a world where classical composition, media art, and performance stand side-by-side such as classical instrument sound, noise, pop and actual audio-recording artifacts.

Ivičević studied composition at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, media composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and composition with Beat Furrer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. In addition to a number of works for orchestra and large ensembles, her body of work consists mainly of electro-acoustic and inter-media works that are often inspired by the composer’s surrounding media environment. She extracts fragments from this, questions the existing context, and thus playfully encourages a new artistic examination of this—this desire for discovery runs throughout all aspects of Ivičević’s work and is also something she experiments with on stage: “As a performer you can shift directions in real time, or compose something to it. In a certain sense this is also liberating.”

Text: Miriam Akkermann
Translation: Erik Smith