MAELSTROM
“MAELSTROM” is an installation that portrays the state of contemporary Cuban society, functioning as a visual and sonic metaphor for the economic fragility and total destruction of a nation’s financial stability.
In the darkness, a point of light illuminates a coin shattered into pieces on a table. On the wooden surface, the copper fragments struggle to reunite, caught between the force of hidden magnets, the pieces in rage collide with one another. Amplified, the sound of the fragments fills the space, enveloping passersby, echoing through the grime, and devouring the silence.
To achieve this, I make the fragments of a Cuban peso collide using a system of motors and a series of neodymium magnets placed under a table. A circuit of contact microphones captures the micro-sounds of the colliding fragments, while a wireless transmitter/receiver sends the signal to a central computer. Once on the computer, the sound is processed and sent in real-time to a network of amplifiers distributed throughout the space. The system includes a spatialization structure that moves the sound around the location, creating a dense and oppressive experience.
The work uses sound to create a multisensory and participatory environment where the disorientation produced by the juxtaposition and displacement of the sounds invites the audience to search for the source of the noise. Accentuated by a spotlight, the shattered coin presents itself in pieces to those who choose to find it. Some notice and identify the nature of these fragments, while others only see the pieces of metal engulfed in the system.
Parallel to the installation the project also exists as narrative sound experience.
Driven by a curiosity for non-traditional formats in my artistic exploration, I engaged with storytelling. I envisioned expressing my ideas through a sonic experience that would use the written word, allowing me to reveal that more intimate facet of my practice. Through this structure, I navigate the interplay of nostalgia, political catharsis and life memories.
Avoiding the shelter of technicalities, before the tricks and the artist’s vices to which I am accustomed, I ask myself: _“What are the substrates of a work, where are its shadows?”_ To answer this question, in the intimacy of writing, I allow myself to reconcile the shortcomings of an art that puts the visual in the spotlight.
Mixing fiction and reality I try to open an private part of my praxis that otherwise would be obscured by the formal requirements of traditional artistic discourse. I believe in the magic of stories, that is why, faced with the complexities of inventing an object, the limits of its materiality and seduced by the intoxicating power of crafting images with words alone, I write and record [MAELSTROM].
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Credits:
Reading: Teodora Littvay