THIN MEMBRANE DEMONISATION

sound installation in public spaces, Nuuk, Greenland
(informative video)
music by Karmina Šilec

The demonization of drums is an important aspect of cultural conflicts around the world, from the colonial period to the present day. Drums, which held great spiritual and social significance for many peoples, were often viewed by colonists, missionaries, and various regimes as instruments associated with pagan rituals, savage practices, and even evil. As ritual objects, they were banned and often destroyed. Drums were used to drive away evil spirits, express joy at birth, and guide the spirits of the dead on their journey home. They were also used to ward off evil, predict the future, warn of danger, serve as fertility charms, and become the earthly voices of ancestors, spirits, and gods. Drums are intertwined with the customs and memories that make us human.

For Greenland Inuits storytelling, frame drum singing, and dancing possess sonic agency. The power of these sounds—and their misinterpretation by missionaries and colonizers as invoking pagan or even evil forces—led to the banning of the qilaat, the Inuit frame drum, from churches and public spaces. After the suppression of these sounds for nearly 300 years, Inuit drum dancing and singing were inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021.

Electroacoustic music of THIN MEMBRANE is based on sounds of various drums. Multi-channel composition was devised as a part of mechanic/ robotic sonic installation Thin membrane (Public body, 2025).

images taken in Greenland National Museum
Carmina Slovenica, 2025