sunday 20 > wednesday 23 june
Standards
PARENTESI
ciò che è prossimo non coincide
I wander: I got the word. It speaks of a bit of everything, like all words. Of “a way of walking, of going”, says the dictionary, of the “speed acquired by a ship on which the propeller no longer acts” and also “of the footprints of an animal”. A very rich word, as you can see, that speaks of pace, of the sea and of animals, and that hides many other echoes: ” wander: – distance yourself from the truth … go up and down, at random, on an adventure”. J.-J. Rousseau says: “travel for travel’s sake is to wander, to be a vagabond”. But also “manifesting oneself here and there, and fleetingly, on different objects, smiling at the edge of the lips”.
(F. Deligny, Œuvres)
Parentesi starts from the use of an abused audio technology – the binaural microphone – to generate an experience of derailment of perception: an ‘increase’ which, through displacement, re-centers the usual plane of the auditory space. Where does that sound come from? The head and ears – bone and flesh – reflect sounds just before they fall into the ear canals, providing clues to understand where they come from. Through these microphones, Standards’ crew leads the listening through headphones to those who want to try the experience of Parentesi. A few meters apart, joined only by a cable, four ears inhabit the same place, creating a perceptual parenthesis within which to move together: whoever is behind observes and listens to everything that happens a little further on. I see your gestures, I make similar ones but I hear your footsteps, I listen to everything you encounter, which is the same one that I also meet, but slightly anticipated or delayed. Within this parenthesis, which could seem an isolated diminution of reality, in the mismatch between doing, seeing and feeling, a ritual of approaching, listening and observing is born, which finds its profound meaning in non-coincidental proximity.
Instructions:
Get closer to the performer.
You are just a few meters apart.
You hear, the performer listens.
Observe.
We live in the same space.
Standards is a collective project and a flexible space for sonic experience, performance, arts, and music, located at Dergano district in Milano. The main space features Cavo, a wooden site-specific installation acting on the acoustics and on the aesthetics, conceived as practice-based research. As a platform and catalyst for experimentations, Standards encourages multiple perspectives, with the aim to engage relations and widen definitions for sonic and visual cultures. Since 2015 Standards offers a diverse programme of live performances, concerts, talks, exhibitions, workshops, artist residencies, art productions, discursive practices, installations, independent publications, and showcases. With its initiatives, Standards acknowledges the responsibility of acting independently in creating the conditions for cultural projects in respect of the quality of research, communities, accessibility, and differences and supporting the free expression and circulation of ideas. Standards is a non-profit organization and its sustainability is made possible thanks to the support of the public and through the fundraising activity. Standards is currently agitated by Attila Faravelli, Enrico Gilardi, Michele Lori, Gaia Martino, Roberta Pagani, and Nicola Ratti who opened the space together with Alberto Boccardi.
www.standardstudio.it
Attila Faravelli is a sound artist and electro-acoustic musician. In his practice, he explores the relationship between sound, space, and body. He is founder and curator for the Aural Tools project, a series of simple objects to document the material and conceptual processes of specific musicians’ sound production practice. Aural Tools are acoustic devices for relating sound to space, the listener, and the body in ways unavailable through traditional recorded media such as CDs or LPs. He’s part of Standards’ collective project. www.attilafaravelli.tumblr.com
Enrico Gilardi is organizer and promoter of musical and multi-language events, the most experiences significant are linked to the S/V/N/Savana project in its multiform manifestations (including the festival MASH) and is part of Standards’ collective project.
Michele Lori works in experimental music and practices of social engagement related to sound, took part in a few groups and organizations in and out of Milan, presently collaborates with the artists of Berlin-based Morphine Records label, Francesco D’Abbraccio Lorem project, and is part of Standards’ collective project.
Roberta Pagani deals with experimental curatorial practices in photography, visual cultures, and contemporary artistic languages (such as the independent research www.SS36.it). She’s a professor of Contemporary Art History at IAAD (Turin-Bologna), visiting professor at Bauer (Milan), and is part of Standards’ collective project.
Nicola Ratti is a multifaceted musician and sound designer who has been active for years in various experimental fields. His sound production creates systems that take shape from repetition and expansion, with particular attention to the construction of environments that gravitate in relation to space and architecture we live in and balancing the emotional and perceptual orientations we are used to. He’s part of Standards’ collective project. www.nicolaratti.com
by and with Attila Faravelli, Nicola Ratti, Michele Lori, Roberta Pagani, Enrico Gilardi
production Standards, Xing/Live Arts Week