Paola Livorsi, Juho Laitinen, Marek Pluciennik, Roberto Fusco (2016), Juan de Dios Magdaleno (2020)
Imaginary Spaces, 2016 / 2020
In this performance, the composer Paola Livorsi, together with Juho Laitinen, Marek Pluciennik, and Roberto Fusco, has created a unique art work that weaves together sound with the infinite parameters of space. Her practice is inspired by composing scores that challenge the traditions of playing music to a passive public. With Imaginary Spaces, Livorsi includes the audience in a sensorial journey that merges sound, image and technology. At the core of the performance is the cellist Juho Laitinen who is accompanied by Livorsi, Marek Pluciennik (processed live cinema) and Viktor Toikkanen (live electronics); together they layer sounds of the cello with voice and imagery. With the addition of audience participation, the ensemble is made complete.
The pathway to the spaces of the imaginary is found in the moment the piece is performed; the score of the work will never be the same and is a unique experience each time it comes to life. In the words of Simone Weil:
“I am other than I imagine to be,
To reduce oneself, to shrink to the point you fill in space and time
Stop time to an instant
It’s a void for us, what we can’t represent nor define. But this void is fuller than every fullness
To love a stranger as thyself implies: to love thyself as a stranger
Through art is recreated the alliance between body and soul”
Realised at the Centre for Music and Technology, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.
The work is part of Livorsi’s artistic research “Human voice and instrumental voice: a comparative study in timbral content”.
The cello is made by Ilkka Vainio in 1997 in Helsinki.
The bow is made by Risto Vainio, also in Helsinki, probably in the early 1990s.
Project plan 4, 20.9.2016
Imaginary Spaces, Black Box 18.10.2016
Paola Livorsi, concept and sound design, Juho Laitinen cello, voice and sound design, Roberto Pugliese live electronics and sound design, Marek Pluciennik live video, Pasi Pehkonen light design, Timo Pyhälä scenography
1. Cello and electronics (about 10-15 min.)
granular system - talking cello
grains around the space - trajectories in space
MAX concatenative synthesis Ircam CataRT
http://imtr.ircam.fr/imtr/CataRT - Description
Image following grain distribution in time
2. Swinging microphones from ceiling
To attire people´s attention and invite them to participate by speaking in the mics
Spoken voice will trigger cello sounds, played by Catart
very small motors, slow pendulum movement
es. 8-10 mics
3. Audience invited to move around in space
sensitive areas/spaces
cardboard boxes with mics inside (step on, tap) - trigger voices and cello sounds
surfaces with mics inside different reverberation times & filter
ex. 4 areas, 4 objects
switches on off effects - tapping - trigger sounds
tapping on things - different matters, sound qualities, glassy etc.
people invited to play with wireless camera, enclosed in an object
Juho changing position in other part of the hall (in darkness)
Path/labyrinth
people to walk on a predetermined path, movement detected with a webcam, people together or distant in space ---> diffusion sounds
4. cello and electronics (about 10-15 min.)
cello in another part of the hall
in darkness, projections
duration 45´ ca.
to book:
2 computers
audio interface
1 mixer
8-10 loudspeakers, plus 6 on roof
10 microphones for drums, hanging + long cables (we´ll provide 12 volt motors to make them swing)
