The lost and often forgotten ideas surrounding the art of sound and music technology in the Soviet avant-garde of the early 20th century, along with a presentation of some of the most important figures of the period and their pioneering areas of research, are highlighted in the exhibition entitled “Sound from Light, Paper, and Ether. A Journey to the Origins of Experimental Electronic Music,” which will be presented at MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection, at the Lazaristes Monastery in Thessaloniki, from December 20, 2025, to April 30, 2026.

Among the most pioneering researchers is Arseny Avraamov, who introduced new conceptual and technological ways of understanding sound as artistic material and invented the technique of Ornamental Sound , as well as Leon Theremin, who pioneered new electronic approaches to music, developing countless projects aimed at combining sound with color, gesture, smell, and touch.

Visitors to the exhibition have the opportunity to play the theremin, the first electronic musical instrument that could be played without any physical contact; dance on the terpsitone, a platform where body movements are converted into corresponding tones; “hear” light and the electromagnetic field. Animations from the 1930s with artificial soundscapes created using graphic (designed) sound techniques, as well as music composed with Evgeny Sholpo’s variophone, —an optical synthesizer that used sound waves cut onto cardboard discs that rotated in sync with film—also give other dimensions to space.

The material and reconstructions in the exhibition come from Andrey Smirnov’s archive and workshop, alongside selected artworks from the Costakis Collection at MOMus.

Andrey Smirnov is a physicist, interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, collector, and writer. He is the founder of the Theremin Center and author of, among other works, the monograph Sound In Z: Experiments In Sound and Electronic Music in Early 20th Century Russia (Walther Koenig & Sound and Music, London, 2013). Since 2023, Andrey Smirnov has been living in Thessaloniki, where he has founded 3ERKALO (Mirror), a space for contemporary electroacoustic music and sound-performance arts. He also collaborates with MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection, as the specialist responsible for the operation of the Experimental Sound Laboratory.

Curator: Andrey Smirnov

Supervisor: Maria Tsantsanoglou, MOMus-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection Artistic Director