selection curated by Claudio Libero Pisano and Francesco Giovanetti
SOLO SUONO is an archive of approximately 5,000 audio files from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, which is updated constantly. The origin of SOLO SUONO is RAM | Radio Arte Mobile that was born in the early 2000s from the experience of Zerynthia, Associazione per L’Arte Contemporanea. From the outset, it is a radio on the move, physically moving around, stopping at art venues in Italy and Europe, streaming its journey online.
RAM reports live on the present as it happens: happenings, interviews, sound projects, round tables and exhibitions. Since 2002, these activities have been accompanied by the systematic construction of an archive. Over the years, the various experiences with sound are incorporated into the Sound Art Museum. From these activities MPDS Audio Archive was born, which unifies and systematises all previous experiences: not only sound art but also talks, interviews and live radio broadcasts from the various biennales.
Zerynthia has chosen to donate this enormous heritage to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, which has given birth to SOLO SUONO, with the idea of creating a place for live experimentation that is not only dedicated to consultation and documentation, but capable of generating reflection, new knowledge and planning. Besides being open to the public, the archive is available to students, professors, artists, curators.
For Short Theatre 2024, extracts of various sound works are selected from the archive, with a focus on the neglected actions of the everyday. In these works, sound traces a line of investigation of acting in the aftermath of events, drawing acoustic spaces of intra-action with the environment.
Donatella Landi
Freihafen, 1992 | 38′ 27” (excerpt)
Freihafen is a border zone, a place of detachment, estrangement, travel. Here, the water is a sound carpet between containers unloaded in the night, platforms and the sirens of ships constantly entering and leaving the port. The sound is a recording of all areas, both industrial and docks, and represents a recomposed map of the entire Hamburg harbour.
Donatella Landi has been working with sound, video installations, film, photography and sculpture since the 1990s. Her films and video productions include: Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe, 2009, (Museum Goch, 2009, D); Casting Madonna, 2011; Mio Caro Mia Adorata/ My Dear my Beloved, 2013/15, La résonance de l’Image, Galerie de l’UQAM, Montreal, 2013; Auditorium Arte, Parco della Musica, Roma, 2015; Scusi, ma lei è felice? 2018, Wacht am Rhein, 2021 (Museum Goch, 2022). She lives and works between Rome and Berlin.
Sonia L. Sheridan
Sound of a Hand, 1999 | 2′ 00”
The sound of a hand is initially narrated by the artist, who verbally explains the sound of the image reproduced on paper, followed by the acoustic signals of the photocopied print of the same hand, which, being able to be reproduced in series, can be endlessly re-imagined.
Sonia L. Sheridan was a visual artist, researcher and lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where in 1970 she founded the Generative Systems Department, a programme dedicated to the study of the interconnectedness of art, science and technology. Her work includes multimedia works, drawings, paintings, prints and photographs, many of which are part of the permanent collections of major museum institutions. For her work with generative systems she has been named a Guggenheim Fellow and three times National Endowment for the Arts.
Paul Fretwell
Doors Close…, 1998 | 1′ 00”
Doors Close… is part of the project Hope, a limited edition collection of one-minute sound works by international sound artists, experimental composers, noise makers and other audio creators.
Paul Fretwell is a composer and sonic adventurer, committed to the investigation of the everyday, the noisy and the unlistenable with the aim of unearthing new musical values. His sound vocabulary is at the same time dramatic, sensual and evocative, generated by the encounter of traditional instruments such as the orchestra or small ensemble and computer technology. His works have been performed at festivals and concerts all over the world. Since 2005, he has contributed to the development of the research programmes of the Centre for Music Technology at the University of Kent.
Brandon LaBelle
Diagram of a Private Space, 2009 | 2′ 27”
Sound focuses on its dynamics within public spaces and interactions between language and the body. LaBelle’s interest in site-specificity reflects a desire to consider the relationships and tensions between art and the social environment on a broader horizon.
Brandon LaBelle is an American artist, writer and theorist based in Berlin. His work focuses on sound agency, community, pirate culture and aesthetics, translating into extra-institutional and collaborative initiatives. In 2021, he founded The Listening Biennial and its Academy, of which he is artistic director. In 1995 he creates Errant Bodies Press, independent publishing project dedicated to sound and performance art, artistic research and contemporary political thought. His publications include: Dreamtime X (2022), Acoustic Justice (2021), The Other Citizen (2020), Sonic Agency (2018), Lexicon of the Mouth (2014).
in collaboration with the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma
presented at Short Theatre 2024 within the project Eco:frequenze, funded by Unione europea – Next Generation EU – PNRR Transizione Digitale Organismi Culturali e Creativi
special thanks to Luca Valerio and Ernani Paterra
ph. Monkeys Video Lab
