Artistic Direction
2022

BIENNALE MUSICA 2022-OUT OF STAGE-Arsenale – Tese dei Soppalchi-TANIA CORTÉS/JACOPO CENNI

EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE
BIENNALE COLLEGE MUSICA 2022
TANIA CORTÉS (1993)
R I Z O M A, 2022 (30’) ***
for electronics and video
Tania Cortés, performer
JACOPO CENNI
HUNT, 2022 (30’) ***
sound theatre for electronics
and incandescent light bulbs
Jacopo Cenni, performer
Production La Biennale di Venezia – CIMM,
Centro di Informatica Musicale Multimediale

TANIA CORTÉS - RIZOMA -
FOR ELECTRONICS AND VIDEO
R I Z O M A  is an immersive audiovisual composition that uses recordings of everyday elements that most people can identify with, such as public transportation, church bells, seagulls, telephone conversations, breathing, and so on.

The piece suggests a space where each spectator creates his own narrative journey based on past experiences through sound and visual stimuli. A sequence of small events shaped in a non-linear way, in which everyone has the possibility to identify with these everyday elements that are usually neglected, but unconsciously absorbed.

The audience interprets the components of each scene personally by relating them to their own experiences, therefore giving place to an infinity of narratives. This approach enables an intertwined network of personal associations in which implicit links are created between spectators.

JACOPO CENNI - HUNT -
SOUND THEATER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS
Man has always tried to understand the complexity of the world he lives in. Creating increasingly sophisticated analysis tools, he got always more rigorous answers. However, he has never been able to catch the light he seeks.

HUNT talks about Man’s chase for the Truth. The performance features two characters on stage: the performer, who impersonates mankind, and a set of incandescent light bulbs, which represent the concept of Truth.

In the center of the stage, the performer stands still, almost in complete darkness. He begins to explore his surroundings, experimenting with the tools he has. He gets confident and soon loses control of his actions: this excess triggers the light, first frightening and then intriguing him.

As Man claims to have a special power over reality, the performer increases his articulated body gestures to subjugate the light. Light resists, showing him how his arrogance and greed keep him away from his purpose.

The oscillation between Man’s dominance and light’s loss of control shapes the performance development, highlighting Man’s stubbornness and growing frustration. Man’s moods, oscillating between egomania and delusional states, are amplified by sound. Sound also clarifies the hunt-prey relationship between the two characters, outlining two distinct sound identities, respectively concrete and synthetic, materic and abstract. The author sets out to reconstruct the never-ending human thirst for knowledge and catharsis through theatrical and musical material, staging an increasingly tense and hopeless sound theater performance.
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