This page is reserved for field recordings taken during my one month residency at MoKS in the village of Mooste, Estonia. In their own words MoKS is a non-profit artist-run project space in Estonia situated in the rural community of Mooste. We are located 40km southeast of Tartu and 20km west of the Russian border. With its diverse approach and open atmosphere, MoKS holds a unique position within the Estonian and greater European cultural context.

A view across a a frozen pond to the Moks residence.

After 12 months of anticipation the residency at MoKS has finally begun. MoKS is located in a tiny village in southern Estonia. Its winter landscape and local architecture is far removed from anything I have seen elsewhere in Europe or Australia. Centuries old stone buildings sit side-by-side with abandoned Soviet factories the combination of which is so beyond my experience that it is hard to believe it is real.

The MoKS residency program was opened in 2001 with an aim to explore the fields of the arts and environmental research in post-soviet Estonia. It is also dedicated to providing educational workshops for artists and the local youth. While I’m here I will be hosting a lecture on the Australian soundscape as well as working on a number of sound-based projects to be released in 2014.

On a walk through part of the village this afternoon the only sign of life was the rustle of tall grass in the wind and a radio interview blasting from a distant work-space. Somehow the sounds reinforced the desolation of the scene that lay before me. I’m looking forward to more of these experiences.