Personal Information
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Given name: Rada









Surname: Leu









Email: rada.leu@zhdk.ch









I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'.: Yes









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Your contribution
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Title: AdBlock, but for your ears









Format: Experimental format (4)









Main language: English









Abstract:
Whilst conducting research within the scope of my PhD thesis in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, I was struck by the sheer number of speakers in public spaces, which play music that serves purely commercial purposes. Curiously, none of the locals seemed to particularly enjoy the music selection, shrugging its presence away as an inescapable fact.

In less-regulated spaces outside of the heavily ‘revitalized’ parts of the city center, residents listen to a much broader variety of music. This is especially notable in places like Chisinau’s Central Market, a lively labyrinth where vendors play their personal music selection on portable radios. This market is facing imminent closure and will likely be replaced with a shopping mall. 
Like many post-socialist countries, Moldova is still undergoing a turbo-neoliberal phase in urban ‘development’. An oligarchic class snatched unregulated public spaces away, aided by a cumbersome bureaucracy that hinders public scrutiny and participation at every turn. The result, a disaffected citizenry, avoids going through the trouble of reclaiming public space, withdrawing to their private spaces. The acoustic environment remains a rather underexamined area within the struggle for the preservation of  non-commercial public spaces in the region.

Without stepping into the traps of nostalgia and romanticised notions of ‘authenticity’, I want to examine how the commercialization of auditory spaces ties into the larger processes of erasing parts of the city considered less presentable, and how this displaces already marginalized lower-income communities. 

Whenever I spoke of this research, I encountered a strong response from other artists/researchers. Therefore, I would like to open the conversation up and, starting from the case study of Chisinau, see which types of audio advertising participants have encountered in their daily lives, how they address them, and what a resistance for a sonic commons could look like.










Image: https://www.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/397/centralmarket_dots.png









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Rada Leu (born in Sofia, based in Zurich) is a transdisciplinary artist, researcher and musician. Currently, Rada is researching Moldova's contemporary art scene's response to war and crisis in the context of her artistic research phd.
  Rada is part of the queer performance trio Acid Amazonians (a queer instant-composition punk noise pop project); co-founder of the Kazakh-Swiss exchange programme QWAS (an exploration of post-soviet space through a series of train journeys and radio programmes); a member of the research-based political theatre collective Neue Dringlichkeit; and has taught a series of educational programmes on decolonization and pop culture across Europe and East Asia.
  
  Rada lives and works online.










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
I presented a very first draft of my research into urban soundscapes at the ISA Research Conference 'Sound, Politics and the Urban Laboratory' in Vienna (Summer 2025). Since then, I have been expanding my research, and plan to publish the results in 2027.














Requirements
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Additional information:
I would like to briefly present my research (15min) and open up the conversation to the participants. I think a laboratory format would be best suited. I would like to collect the participants' responses in the form of drawings and share them with them in the form of a mini-zine (digital or physical, depending on the possibilities9. 










Spatial and technical requirements :
a space with a projector; possibly a microphone if it's a larger space, as my voice isn't the loudest










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
I wish to make the space as inclusive and accessible to as many participants as possible. 










Create a user account for SAR 2026: Yes









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