THO

Coal Is an Acid Line is a collaborative project by sound artist Alisa Nedashkovska and multidisciplinary visual artist Sophus, where painting becomes both a visual and sonic act.

 

The duo explores how movement, gesture, and material can be translated into sound in real time — each stroke, tension, and pause turning into a living composition through the use of contact microphones and live modulation. The project invites audiences to experience creation as something multisensory: to see the artwork forming and simultaneously hear its resonance, rhythm, and emotional texture.

 

The concept grew out of THO (Touch, Hear, Observe) — Alisa’s ongoing research into the relationship between tactile perception and sound. Developed as an experimental system using contact microphones to capture the smallest surface vibrations, THO transforms physical interaction into music. What began as a study of sound sensitivity evolved into a compositional method and, ultimately, a collaborative performance language shared with other artists.

 

The duo premiered Coal Is an Acid Line in August 2025 at an ambient gathering near Wiesenthal, 100 km from Berlin, presenting an augmented stage where guests could both watch and hear the process of painting. Later that year, the project was showcased at Mahalla Open during Berlin Art Week as part of Alina Schulz’s curatorial program The Fleeting Memories, performed daily as a live dialogue between sound, gesture, and visual art.

 

As a result of these performances, the first series of paintings with their own individual soundtracks was created. The artists plan to release a collection of tracks and sound samples generated during the live sessions, expanding the project into both visual and sonic archives — where each painting remains inseparable from its audible trace.