SHAPE+ Artist Sofi Shares Recording Captured During Residency at Prague’s MeetFactory

The 27-minute performance is a collaboration with the artists Sorbitol Drops and Natálie Pleváková

SHAPE+ artist Sofi, real name Sofia Zaiceva, has shared a recording from a recent performance at Prague’s MeetFactory.

The 27-minute experimental piece is a collaboration with the artists Sorbitol Drops and Natálie Pleváková, and the recording was captured during an artist residency at the venue. With the performance, the trio aimed to question “how contemplative practices become commodified experiences to be consumed efficiently rather than embodied processes to be lived fully,” a press release said.

Jointly explaining their process, the three artists said: “We built our concept around observing how streaming platforms reduce music to absurdly grotesque algorithmic categories. Taking this phenomenon to its logical extreme, we created our own playlist categories that reflect the reductive nature of digital music curation – ‘lowkey wild ambient’, ‘lo-fi girl’, ‘coastal heavy hitters’, ‘comfort zone anthem’, ‘mainstage confidence’.

“We wanted to find out how we could adapt our sounds to these absurd ‘genre’ categories, which mostly refer to certain aesthetics, moods or situations, playing around with humorous ‘wannabe’ sonic
representations of various weird music styles.

“We have used various computer music approaches – SuperCollider live coding, Ableton Live and
BitWig, Instagram input, voice manipulation, hardware processors in improvisational setting. Our
performance felt like good conversation without limitations: super present and thoughtful, but also
fun and responsive.”

Listen to the full piece below, and find out more about the three artists involved in its production here.

SHAPE+ is a European Union and Pro Helvetia-funded platform for innovative music and audiovisual art. Bringing together 54 artists, the 2024/25 roster is the largest list the platform has announced to date, and draws from the results of an open call, as well as curatorial propositions from the European festivals who constitute its membership.