Sound Art

GUT AND PSYCHE – A CLOSE LISTENING / Tarme og Psyke – En Nærlytning (COPENHAGEN, 2021)

| Eduardo Abrantes

Tine Friis og Eduardo Abrantes
2021
Lydinstallation
Bygget af Aloh Studio & Jonas Linnet / Stemme: Mathilde Eusebius 
Foto: David Stjernholm

[DA] Dette værk tager udgangspunkt i et forskningsprojekt, hvor personer med interesse i sammenhængen mellem tarm og psyke gik sammen om at udføre et såkaldt “erindringsarbejde” – en gruppebaseret arbejdsform, hvor deltagerne skriver tekster om konkrete minder, som de derefter læser og diskuterer. Historierne, der indgår i værket, er baseret på deltagernes tekster og samtaler. Deltagerne skrev ud fra emnet “En gang, hvor mine tarme og min psyke snakkede sammen”.

Resultatet var et nærfelts spatialiseret 4-kanals lydlandskab, som lytterne kunne træde ind i uden at krydse nogen fysiske grænser. Inden for dette lydlandskab er de nedsænket i pulser, lag og iscenesatte fortællinger, der engagerer sig med de mange agenturer, der er i spil inden for deres egne kroppe.

Dette værk blev bestilt til udstillingen “The World is in You” (Medical Museion / Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2021-2022), en stor international samarbejde. “Ved at blande videnskab, samtidskunst og historiske genstande, udforsker udstillingen, hvordan vores kroppe er forbundet med verden i og omkring os.”

Tine Friis og Eduardo Abrantes
2021
Sound installation
Built by Aloh Studio & Jonas Linnet / Voice: Mathilde Eusebius
Photo credit: David Stjernholm

[EN] This work builds on a research project in which participants interested in the connection between gut and psyche came together to do “memory work” – a group-based method in which the participants write short texts about specific memories, which they then read and discuss together. The stories in this work are taken from those texts and conversations. The texts proceeded from the prompt, “One time my gut and psyche spoke to each other”.

The result was a near-field spatialized 4-channel soundscape that listeners could step into without crossing any physical borders. Within this soundscape, they are immersed in pulses, layers, and enacted narratives, engaging with multiple agencies at play within their own bodies.

This work was commissioned for the The World is in You exhibition (Medical Museion / Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2021-2022), a large scale international collaboration “blending science, contemporary art and historical objects, the exhibition explores how our bodies are connected to the world in and around us.”

FROM EAR TO HAND – MAKING SOUND-WORLDS (Several locations, Faroe Islands, 2019)

| Eduardo Abrantes

From Ear to Hand is a workshop that explores children’s natural story-telling instincts, curiosity and the knowledge of their surrounding landscape to create sound narratives using everyday objects. They will be invited to do so using so-called foley techniques, where everyday materials are explored for their sonic properties: gloves can become flapping wings, finger-tapping a heavy rainfall, or a balloon a squeaky door hinge.

The focus of the workshop is to engage with the children’s knowledge and awareness of the sounds present in their everyday lives, while being open to imagined places and spaces.

The workshop took place in 4 different schools, one week per school, with children 5-10 years old. The final outcome of the different sound exploration exercises were different soundtracks created and performed by the children, for short clips from two of Japanese filmmaker Miyazaki’s animation classics. Examples below:

This project was made in the context of the Listaleypurin artistic residency and exchange program, and with generous support from local partners.

THE ANIMAL EMPIRE – YOU ARE NOT INVITED (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019)

| Eduardo Abrantes

“Animal Empire” is an ongoing performance research project by Danish artists, dancers and choreographers Linh Le and Peter Vadim, in which they investigate the social and political context and consequences of the use of animal metaphors (mostly negative ones such as “pest”) in order to portray specific minority groups in contemporary societies.

Having being invited as moderator to the performance series taking place at Bådteatret, I also composed a podcast manifestation of the project, including an original soundscape and samples of the discussions taking place between the invited guests and the audience, after each performance.

Photo credit: Sebastian Neerup Mandel

SOUNDING SHIFT (Copenhagen, Denmark – Christchurch, New Zealand, 2016)

| Eduardo Abrantes

Sounding Shift – The Transitional Core in Everyday Sound Objects is an exploration of how the audio format might be able to sustain and invoke transdisciplinarity. It occurs as a manifestation of the possibility of dialogue and mutual embodiment between Sound Art and Philosophy. It is both a soundscape composition and an audio-essay, sparked by the question: “What is the contemporary sound object?”. It was published within the context of the third issue of the Writing Around Sound journal, edited by Richard Keys and Jo Burzynska, and connected to the Auricle Sonic Arts Gallery, located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The text accompanying the sound piece can be read here.