JOSEP CERDÀ
Exposed sound
BR::AC Edicions, Barcelona
Exposed Sound Josep Cerdรก 2010/2017
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Sound Sculpture Soundscape Sound Cartography Sound Art
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12 · 49 50 · 71 72 · 85 86 - 101
SOUND SCULPTURE Design and construction of sound sculptures. Exposition of sounds and interactive sound installations. Sound actions and concerts.
Sound is essentially immaterial, abstract and ephemeral. Sound, for a sculptor, is a material with which we can establish a physical relationship and with which space can be organized in the same way as with tangible forms and materials. Artists of the avant-garde of the twentieth century experimented with new ways of expression and plastic artists, painters and sculptors, began to penetrate in new territories of art not previously explored and began to work with sound as the maximum expression of abstraction. Many plastic artists experiment with sounds as an expressive element out of the musical canons. In the 90s, they began to expose sounds within art galleries. Sound sculpture works with sound by plasticity and timbre of the pure sounds. The sound expositions are realized by means of sound sculptures and in the interactive artistic installations. In 2010 Josep Cerdá performed two Sound Installations using sound sculptures of reverberation. The exhibition Spaces of Resonance: Variations Out of Place was presented at the 7th Sound and Visual show of Barcelona in the Cultural Center of the Convent St. Agustí, and consisted of 5 large sculptural pieces, specially designed to reverberate the sounds; acoustic boxes which reproduce different states of resonance and channeling of sound waves. The set of pieces creates a sound sequence the viewer’s route between the sculptures making the acoustic mixture. The recordings of the sound landscape of Catalonia were made by the author from 2007 to 2010. Inside the sculptures are montages the field recordings composed by Martí Ruiz, within the parameters of electronic music.
This installation can be consulted in electronic dossier format on:
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/variacions_fora_de_lloc_convent_st_agusti_barcelon The sounds of each sculpture are on the Sound Cloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/percussion-sculpture-oreilles-en-parenthese
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/percussion-sculpture-cny
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/percussion-longue-sculpture-agrafeuse
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/percussion-sculpture-t-etue-grapa
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/percussion-sculpture-scaphandre There is a web page with sound installation information on:
http://espaisderessonancia.wordpress.com/ And a video report made by La Malla TV:
http://www.xiptv.cat/video/26202/start=0/end=2982.96?a7eca8862593b770ffa28e0532e39562
This exhibition was a finalist in the Smart Future Minds Award of the year 2011:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/cicle-variaci-foradelloc
In the participation in the congress WOCMES Barcelona 2010, the Installation Sounds of the Mediterranean: Contemporary Arab Poets was presented. The sound installation consisted of 8 sculptural pieces of 100x85x70 cm./80x80x85 cm./220x80x80 cm./ 160x72x26 cm./10x130x40 cm./ 210x35x50 cm./220x80x80 cm./ 27080x88 cm. Josep Cerdá made the sound sculptures and the design of the exhibition, and the composer Ferran Cruixent, made the sound assembly, with the advice of the Arabist Luz Gómez. The sounds were recorded in different Mediterranean cities, consisting of the sound environment of recited poetry. The recitation of the poems were performed with the voices and declamations of the poets: Amel Mousa, from Tunisia; Fadhil Al-Azzaw from Iraq; Amal Al Jubur, Iraq (Iraqi poets in exile); Hanane Aad from Lebanon; Ahmed Bekhit from Egypt; Fuad Rifka from Lebanon; Mahmud Darwish from Palestine; and Abbas Beydoun from Lebanon. The field recordings were made by Josep Cerdà and the Sonographic Art Laboratory UB with the participation of the artist Marc Raventós for the recording of the sounds of the city of El Cairo. World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES) took place in Barcelona in June 2010 with the participation of 2,600 researchers from 60 countries. This academic activity was articulated around the appointment of Barcelona as the capital of the Mediterranean Union. This congress was carried made and coordinated by the European Institute of the Mediterranean IEMed and the Generalitat of Catalonia
http://www.iemed.org/
http://wocmes.iemed.org/ Information about this exhibition exists an electronic dossier on:
http://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/pdf_wocmes_per_issuu The recorded sounds and the musical composition can be found on:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/arab-poets
An interview was given on Radio Nacional de EspaĂąa Radio 3, program Mediterraneo
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/audios/20100905/fin-del-ramadan-poetas-arabes-contemporaneos-mediterraneo/868224.shtml
The years 2012 and 2013 were marked by our professional work in Romania. Participation in the Simpozionul International of Sculpture Sonora din Zeicani in the Transylvania region allowed us to make a monumental sound sculpture for the Zeicani Sculpture Park. The sound sculpture was built with iron and measures 5’50 m. height x 3 m. wide with a depth of 4’50 m., forming a bridge over a channel of water and a vertical form with two lobes that allows the reverberation of the sound of the water inside. By walking through this sculpture, it is possible to appreciate the sound amplification of the sound of the water and see the micro-sounds that occur in the swirls produced by changes in water flow between day and night. About this sound sculpture, it is possible to find an electronic dossier on:
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/josep_cerd__chiton_zeicani_2012 The sounds recorded inside the sculpture are on the SoundCloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/zeicani2012
https://soundcloud.com/zeicani2012/so-aigua-interior-escultura
https://soundcloud.com/zeicani2012/percussio-de-marti-ruids
https://soundcloud.com/zeicani2012/improvitzaci-nocturna-a
In the year 2013, a homage was performed to the scultur Constantin Brancusi in his hometown: Targu-Jiu, Romania. The GorgFest Sculpture Symposium is an international contemporary art event held every year in the region of Gorg, Romania. In the year 2013, a sculpture congress was organized by Constantin Brancusi University of Targu-Jiu and the Targu-Jiu City Hall led to the construction of monumental sculptures. The participants were artists representing different countries of the world: Romania, Morocco, France, Albania, Canada Chile and Spain, Spanish artists were: Miguel Ayesa, Sílvia Bartolomé, Mar Cerdà, Josep Cerdá, Teymur Faris, Andrea Ortega, Martí Ruiz, Rosa Marí, Vicent Matamoros, Assumpció Mateu and Rufino Mesa. Josep Cerdá made the design and construction of a lithophone, a sound sculpture in stone, with which a concert / sound action was performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Targu-Jiu, which was the museum where were placed the final works done by the participating artists.
The electronic dossier of this sculpture is on the platform Issuu:
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/lithophone_hobita_gorjfest_2013_ The concert, performed by Martí Ruiz is published on the Sound Cloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/gorjfest
https://soundcloud.com/gorjfest/lit-fon-hobita-concert
https://soundcloud.com/gorjfest/lit-fon-hobita-escultura
https://soundcloud.com/gorjfest/lit-fon-hobita-inprovitzaci
In 2014, Josep Cerdรก was commissioned by China Foch Investment Holdings Co. Ltd to design the sculpture park in Yi Chang City, Hubei, China. In Yi Chang 7 monumental sonorous steel sculptures of percussion were constructed. The sculptures with measures between 6 and 7 m. of height, were executed by the author by agreement between the company Foch and the Bosch and Gimpera Foundation of the University of Barcelona.
The electronic dossier of the work process of the construction of the sculptures can be found on:
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/escultures_sonores__yichang_proc__s
In this same year, 4 sound sculptures were made in Jin Si Nan wood (semi-fossilized wood 3,000 years old) with approximate measurements, each unit of 2’20 x 0’40 x 0’10 m . These Sculptures built in Yi Chang in theFoch factory workshops were exhibited in the 798 neighborhood of Beijing’s Contemporary Art Galleries. This exhibition was framed within the events of Barcelona in Beijing, the China-Barcelona cultural exchange, organized by the Ramon Llull Institute of the Generalitat of Catalonia in conjunction with the Beijing Desing Week, which was funded by Air China. In this event on October 3, 2014, a sound sculpture concert entitled “The Sound Expression of 3,000 years” was performed at the 798 Watertank Auditorium presented by the Vice-Rector of Culture of the University of Barcelona, Dr. Lourdes Cirlot.
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2014/jin-si-nan-the-sound-expression-of-3000-years-josepcerda-sculptor-marti-ruiz-musician
In 2016 several sound sculptures were performed in China. In January a sound sculpture of 3’15 m. height x 2’96 m. widewith a depth of 2’54 m. made of steel was built, this percussion sculpture was exhibited at the Gui Gong Fu Culture Center Beijing where a concert was held in this same place. With a similar measure and materials exhibited in February was a sculpture built in Shen Zhen at the Donghai Square Art Exhibition Center where a concert was also held. In both cases the concert was played by Martí Ruiz. 5’50 m. height x 3 m. wide with a depth of 4’50 m
In 2016 was performed several sound sculptures in China, in January a sound sculpture of 3’15 m. height x 2’96 m. widewith a depth of 2’54 m. Built of steel, this percussion sculpture was exhibited at the Gui Gong Fu Culture Center Beijing where a concert was held in this same place. With a similar measure and materials were exhibited in February, was a sculpture built in Shen Zhen at the Donghai Square Art Exhibition Center where a concert was also held. In both cases the concert was played by Martí Ruiz. 5’50 m. height x 3 m. wide with a depth of 4’50 m
Also in 2016 in agreement of the Bosch and Gimpera Foundation of the University of Barcelona and the Museum of Western Art & Culture of the city of Qingdao, China, Josep Cerdá received the commission of 4 sound sculptures for the city of Weifang. These sculptures were made in Qingdao by the author, with the collaboration of the architect Andrea Ortega and two professors from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Vicent Matamoros and Manolo Fontiveros. With measures (approximate each unit) of 2’60 high x 2’30 wide x 2 m. they were placed in Weifang in September 2016. The sculptures of sound reverberation, through mechanisms of automatic reproduction of the sound create a sound environment in its interior. Two of these sculptures are accessible by creating an interior space where montages of field recordings of sea sounds and sources from different parts of the world are reproduced: China, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Jordan, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. This sound composition, composed by the author himself can be heard in:
https://soundcloud.com/user-803276098-171795784/esculturas-sonoras-qingdao-weifang-china-fuentes
https://soundcloud.com/user-803276098-171795784/esculturas-sonoras-qingdao-weifang-china-mar
The electronic dossier of this sculpture is on the platform Issuu:
As a contribution to the year 2016, it is possible to emphasize the construction of 4 sonorous sculptures realized in stainless steel in the Center of Contemporary Art Da Wang of Shen Zhen of measures of each unit comprised, each unit, of 2’20 m. high, 1.70 m. wide and 1 m. of depth. These sound sculptures were presented to the public through the concert of the ShenZhen Foundation for International Exchange and Annual Gala Cooperation in Shen Zhen on November 17, 2016. The concert of the sound sculptures, designed and built by Josep Cerdà , premiered an original composition, written especially by the contemporary music composer Ferran Cruixent, and was performed by the percussionist of the Symphony Orchestra of German city Weimar by Alejandro Coello and with the participation of the Chinese pianist Lang Lang.
The recording of the concert can be found at:
https://soundcloud.com/user-803276098-171795784/obra-sonora-esculturas-shen-zhen-ensayo-da-wang-16xi2016
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/concierto-escultura-sonora-shen-zhen-china17-xi-2016percusion-alejandro-coello-esculturas-josep-cerda-composicion-ferran-cruixent
https://soundcloud.com/user-803276098-171795784/concierto-escultura-sonora-shen-zhen-chinafragmento-ensayo-16xi2016
https://soundcloud.com/user-803276098-171795784/concierto-esculturas-sonora-shen-zhen-ensayo-da-wang-16xi2016
The electronic dossier of this sculpture is on the platform Issuu:
Concert for WWF in SCULPTURES Sculptures by: Josep Cerda Percussionist: Alejandro Coello Place: Shenzhen Performing Arts Center 25 03 2017 Shenzhen, China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q71U-F035y8
SOUNDSCAPE Sound file. The project deals with the recording of sound landscapes based on the premises
established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the registration of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The sound of any place configures cultural identity. Research consists of making field recordings, to promote diffusion and knowledge through artistic actions. The sound environments, sounds of nature and sound memories are elements that define the differential condition of a culture. For this reason it is necessary to preserve and disseminate them. The project, therefore, is developed as a systematic work of collected sound data to identify its components since the registration of the sound identity of each place is a document that helps analyze the differential aspects of each environment. The recordings, made in the environment, record the ambient sounds and give a sound image of the ephemeral moment in which they have been captured. In 2010 Josep Cerdà recorded the Sound Landscape of Brazil. Recordings were made in the state of Bahia, and later in Sao Paulo and Brasilia. There were workshops specialized in field recording for the formation of teams of sound artists to be involved in the project. These workshops were carried out in different universities, such as the Federal University of Salvador de Bahia (School of Fine Arts), Sao Paulo State University (Institute of Arts) and the University of Brasilia. Josep Cerdá is a member of the research group GIIP of the UNESP of São Paulo, which provided the necessary assistance in the programming of Sound Recordings.
This field work can be consulted on the website:
http://www.paisagenssonorasdobrasil.blogspot.com And the sounds are compiled on:
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor
https://soundcloud.com/brasilsoundscape
This paper was presented as a lecture at the “Entre Territorios� Congress at the 19th National Meeting of Plastic Arts Researchers (ANPAP) held in Cachoeira, Bahia State, Brazil.
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/brasilpaisagenssonoras
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/feiradesjoaquin
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/feriadecachoeira
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/pontedecachoeira
In the same year, Josep Cerdรก made the recording of the Sound Landscape of the Azores Islands, we held a Workshop at the University of Aรงores of Punta Delgada, where it was possible to establish a team of interested students, studyng bachelor degree in the Heritage of the Cultural and Architecture. These same studentscontinued the work begun in the field recordings made on the Island of Sao Miguel. The work is available on the website:
http://www.azorespaisagemsonora.blogspot.com/ It is possible to hear the sound records on:
https://soundcloud.com/acores-paisagenssonoras
The electronic dossier on the platform Issuu:
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/caldeiras_das_furmas
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/lagoa_do_congro
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/caldeiras_da_lagoa_das_furnas
https://issuu.com/josepcerda/docs/caldeira_velha
The Sound Landscape is not only an audible sound environment, but is also composed of other sound phenomenas that are difficult to hear verging on the practically inaudible, aspects comprised of components that are of great interest to analyze from both an artistic and scientific point of view. In 2011, Josep CerdĂ started an innovative project in the field of landscape recording. The sound record of non-audible sound landscapes which was funded by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia. Non-audible landscapes, is referred to as the sounds of the environment of difficult or null of hearing: Vibration and resonance. Materials, whether natural or artificial transmit vibrations and sound waves. Bridges, structures of buildings, surfaces, machines, and natural structures have a sonority produced by vibration and resonance, these inaudible sounds can be recorded by piezoelectric, contact microphones and hydrophones, recording a very different sound environment than our perception is accustomed to capture. Web page: http://paisajesonorovalencia.blogspot.com.es Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/vibracionalamedacerda
https://soundcloud.com/artsonor/vibracio-pont-cachoeira-brasil
VLF (Very Low Frequency) are radio emissions produced in a natural way by electromagnetic emissions produced and diffused in extremely low frequency bands, generally in the range of 100 Hz to 10,000 Hz. Through an antenna and a receiver that amplifies the signal, may be audibles. The sounds propagated by VLF, have originated in storms and aurora borealis, the Earth’s magnetic field and the Sun’s activity, interacting with each other to give rise to these inaudible sounds formed by an extremely complex and random musical composition. Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=josepcerda%20vlf
In 2011 we had the opportunity to experiment with these concepts and make them known by introducing a paper at the Intercontinental Congress Dialog in Sao Paulo. With the title Air-City, Activating the Intangible, we presented a sound installation that we realized together with the investigator of the GIIP Efrain Foglia AirCity is an installation that involves the use of physical space, mobile devices (Android), wireless networks, mapping and sound , all articulated through PureData. The SĂŁo Paulo Sound Landscape website is as follows:
http://aircitysaopaulo.blogspot.com.es Audio can be found on:
https://soundcloud.com/aircity/
These experiences can be consulted in the article written by Josep Cerdรก: Observatory of the urban transformation of sound: the city as text, drifts, maps and sound cartography. Art and Politics of Identity University of Murcia. Electronic Link:
http://revistas.um.es/api/article/view/174011 And in the magazine article Journal of Aesthetics and Semiotics. Core of Aesthetics, Hermeneutics and Semiotics of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Brasilia. PPG-FAU-UNB
http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/esteticaesemiotica/issue/view/1160/showToc
In 2013, an exhibition-sound installation was performed at the National Museum of the Republic in Brasilia, Brazil, with water sounds recorded in different locations in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Romania) and America (Chile, Brazil, Mexico ). The exhibition was held in October 2013, with a webpage with the reference sheets of all the sounds:
http://aquasound.tumblr.com And sounds can be heard on the Sound Cloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/aquasound-1/watersound-1-josepcerd/recommended
SOUND CARTOGRAPHY Acoustic study and sound geolocation in space. Sound Mapping, is the term
used to define and analyze the location of sounds in space. In our study we have established recording parameters by the geolocation the sounds, by locating the sound sources and the location of the microphones using binaural microphones to record in three dimensions. Binaural hearing is based on the brain’s ability to localize sounds and spatialize three-dimensional listening. By using binaural recording technology, a sound is faithfully reproduced so that the listener’s perception is just as if it were in the place and in the environment in which it was recorded. For this, a binaural head is used, which is a replica of the ears and human auditory channels through alginate mold and silicone void, where microphones are housed , recreating the behavior of sound waves in our ears and replicating the same differences of amplitude and phase that would occur in real listening. These differences in the time of arrival and the level between the two ears are extremely important since our brain processes them. In order to locate the origin or source of sound, on which all their orientation and their cognition are based on the reverberations occurring in space. The research work of Sound Cartography is developed in monuments of special significance such as the recording of the spaces of the Royal Palaces of the Alhambra in Granada made in 2015 and can be heard with binaural sound on:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/alhambra-cartografia-sonora-del-patio-de-los-leones
There is an article about this experience published in BRAC Barcelona Research Arts Creation magazine. The title is Sound cartography of the Alhambra. The sound as a configurator of the place. Electronic publication:
http://www.hipatiapress.com/hpjournals/index.php/brac/article/view/2135/pd In 2013, the recording of the Sagrada Familia by GaudĂ of Barcelona was performed:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2012/binaural-s-f-gaud-bna
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2014/binaural-sf-gaudi-barcelona And also in the year of 2013, the Recording with Binaural technique of the Cathedral of Brasilia was created.
The Sound Cartography project is performed in the same manner as in urban spaces and aims to decode sound information of the city as a mutable, overlapping and diffused entity. It tries to contribute a vision of the urban space through concepts of mapping and artistic cartography that refer to the representation of dynamic processes of the territory through multi-layered information destined to order, transmit and process information. Each city, neighborhood or street has a differential sound environment that is transformed and adapted over time. Any natural or cultural change in an environment brings with it a sonic change. One of the basic elements in which transformations can be detected in the urban environment are is in the sound, migrations and social changes, wich become new sounds that are detected in buildings and in the streets. The study of urban transformations through sound over art cartography systems is directed by Josep CerdĂ of the research group BR :: AC -Barcelona, Research, Art i Creation- of the University of Barcelona and is carried out jointly with The International and Interinstitutional Group for Research in Convergence between Art, Sciences and Technology - of the Institute of Arts of the National University of the Paulista State (UNESP) of Sao Paulo, Brazil and with GIEIES, research group of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM. The project focuses on the analysis of sound environments in three cities: Barcelona, Sao Paulo and Mexico City. In Barcelona the study has been carried out in the Raval neighborhood, starting in 2012 and reflects the urban changes and the social repercussions that develop from the new migrations of the last ten years. The collaboration with the GIIP has allowed us to establish a comparison with the parallel studies carried out in the neighborhood of Barra Funda and Bom Retiro of Sao Paulo, neighborhoods with a similar social characteristic as the Raval of Barcelona. From 2013 the study of the sound transformation of the neighborhood of La MercĂŠ in Mexico City within the collaboration of the Faculty of Art and Design of the UNAM of Mexico and the University of Barcelona.
The results of these Sonographic Cartography works can be found in different Web pages: Sound Cartography of the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona:
http://cartografiaraval.wixsite.com/cartografiasonora Sounds can be found on the SoundCloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/laboratoridelcaos2012
https://soundcloud.com/caoslab2012
We also carry out the Sound Cartography of other neighborhoods of Barcelona, of which we can highlight the Born / Ribera:
http://ruabcn.wordpress.com/
Sound Cartography of the District of Bom Retiro neighborhood of Sao Paulo:
http://www.aircitysaopaulo.blogspot.com.es/ Sounds can also be heard on the Sound Cloud platform:
https://soundcloud.com/aircity/
Sound Cartography of Mexico City:
http://mexicomapasonoro.wix.com/cartografiasonoradf Edited sounds from Mexico City can be found on:
https://soundcloud.com/mexicosonoro
https://soundcloud.com/mexicocartografiasonora/
In Mexico City we had the opportunity to follow the Sonographic Cartography study in other emblematic neighborhoods of the city, in 2014 we conducted the sound study of Azcapozalco and Coyoacan. In Coyoacan, the Blind Listening Workshop / Binaural Head was organized by the University Museum of Contemporary Art MUAC and the Faculty of Aesthetics of the UNAM, and in Azcapotzalco, organized by the Faculty of Architecture of the Autonomous University of Mexico UAM collective work of Sonographic Cartography were performed where 50 sound artists participated in a field recording work in 50 spaces of Azcapotzalco recorded in a synchronized time, the participating artists recorded the microsounds of the geolocated neighborhood all at the same timed moment, following a timetable which set the sound layers from different places at the same time. This work can be found on:
http://portafolioverolanc.wixsite.com/tallercsbacm/blank-azfw0
Currently, this kind of work of synchronization of field recordings, we are observing it in different places of interest for its sonorous complexity, of which we must emphasize the one of the Sonorous Cartography studies of the district Al-Balad of Amman, Jordan and sponsored by The Cervantes Institute of Amman. The Sound sounds can be heard on:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/al-balad-amman-recorrido-sonoro2josepcerda
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda/al-balad-amman-recorrido-sonoro1josepcerda
SOUND ART Realization of artistic works with sound as the primordial material of expression and experimentation. Development of research activities and diffusion of Sound Art. Curating of artistic installations, sound art actions and recovery of historic sound art works. Personal artistic works in the international exhibition area. As far as personal sound work is concerned the participation in the 30th Sao Paulo Biennial, with the piece [Pluyenuit / Tuyau] selected, was issued by Radio Bienal on October 4, 2012 at 16:00. .This 22-minute sound work is a composition from the soundscapes of the regions of Aude and Ariège of southern France. The sound recordings and field work were completed during 2012 in a residence in The Center of Artistic Production in Cat’Art of Ste. Colombe sur Hers of the department of Aude, Llenguadoc-Rousillon. From this work, a sound installation for 6 multifocal speakers was also performed and presented at the San Carlos Academy of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM. The sound works of Josep Cerdà, either through Sound Installation, sound action or concert have been presented throughout several countries In February 2015, the sound installation was realized within the framework of the exhibition Cartography and Territoriesof the Brazilian Center of Studies of Latin America CBEAL in the Latin American Memorial of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The audio of the work [Pluyenuit / Tuyau] selected at the 30th São Paulo Biennial can be found on:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2012/pluienuit-tuyau-josepcerd The version for the Multifocal installation for 6 loudspeakers:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2012/plujanitperuntub-sense
On another level of research, the studies we completed in Mexico include the recreation of the Nahuatl epic tale that gives testimony and transmits intact the terror of that first meeting of the Aztecs with the Spanish people. From these texts we can make the Nahuatl sound sculpture. This work, which was a part of a collective exhibition was shown in 2016 in Ciudad Juarez, Querétaro and Morelia in Mexico, as well as in Bordeaux, France, Wroclaw, Poland and Barcelona. The audio of the Nahuatl epic tale is found at:
https://soundcloud.com/josepcerda2014/n-huaSince 2011 Since 2011 Josep Cerdá has been the director of the Masters Degree in Sound Art at the University of Barcelona, a master with innovative contents in the panorama of higher education in contemporary art. Prior to this time, there had not been any specialized teaching in sound art. The Master in Sound Art implies that professionals or graduates in plastic arts, architecture and music interested in developing a work in sound art can have access to a practical methodology; a technological knowledge and tools of theoretical reflection at the university level. The master intends to develop an experimental activity with the concepts, procedures and pure techniques of sound art, based on the interests and personal project of each student, with the objective of producing a final work that will be publicly disseminated. The Master in Sound Art UB is taught in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, in Arts Santa Monica, the Hangar artistic production center, and the Convent Sant Agustí Cultural Center, centers of art of great diffusion in the cultural environment of Barcelona in which the practices are carried out and where the works are exposed.
More information:
http://www.ub.edu/masterartsonor/es The video of the presentation of works of the students in Hangar:
https://vimeo.com/85273904 Since 2011, Josep CerdĂ has been carrying out a research on the recovery of masterpieces of 20th century sonorous art, with the purpose of making them known with a new interpretation of them and offering the opportunity to the spectators of the present day to participate in some installations. Sound actions or concerts that for the equivialant characteristic of ephemeral works have been lost for a contemporary audition. In homage to John Cage, one of the most emblematic figures and considered the precursor of contemporary sound art, in 2012 the Master in Sound Art and the Chaos Orchestra of the CCCB, jointly commemorated the centenary of his birth, by offering a concert in the Auditorium of The University of Barcelona with the INLETS work. This premiered in Seattle in 1977, and consists of an interpretation that does not follow a certain structure (if but a few times and few rules) of sea shells with water inside. The sea shells were replaced by sound sculptures with water inside (the sound is captured by hydrophones) made by the students of the masters program. In 2013, the Inlet Workshop of Sonorous Sculpture was realized in the Faculty of Art and Design of
the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM and the work Inlets de Cage was performed at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City. In 2016, the Inlets workshop of Sound Sculpture was held at the Faculty of Arts and Design of the Universidad Mayor de San AndrĂŠs UMSA in La Paz, Bolivia, within the framework of Sonandes Sound Art festival. The Inlets concert, performed by students of the workshop, was held on the hill of Sopocachi of the capital of Bolivia, on September 10. The videos of Inlets Barcelona and Mexico City can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRt5idhncrU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwPqxdhW7FQ The audios can be found at:
https://soundcloud.com/masterartsonor/inlets-john-cage-paranimf-ub
https://soundcloud.com/mexicosonoro/inlets-cage-m-xico In this same line of investigation of the recovery of historic ephemeral sound actions, due to the fact that we have very little information, it is especially, difficult to be able to listen to its interpretation today. In 2011, we recovered the work of one of the artists of minimalism , Steve Reich with his sound action Pendulum Music. This piece was first performed in 1969 by Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, Michael Snow and James Tenney at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, consisting of a series of loudspeakers that were coupled with many microphones that had a pendular movement. We did the reinterpretation of Pendulum Music, at the same time, action, concert and sound installation, in three concerts, with a duration of approximately 23 minutes, staging with six speakers and six microphones. In 2011 the concert was held in the field of Futur Variable, in Bolit Contemporary Art Center in Gerona, in the Chapel of Santa LlĂşcia. Also in 2011, we interpreted the sound-concert action Pendulum Music in the center of Art La Panera de LĂŠrida. In the year of 2012, in the framework of the 8th Sound and Visual Show in Barcelona, the reinterpretation of this work by Steve Reich was performed at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona on June 4, 2012.
https://vimeo.com/125176240
The audio of the concert of Gerona, Barcelona and Lleida is in SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/textsound/pendulum-music-steve-reich-barcelona
https://soundcloud.com/paisatgesonor/pendulum-music-girona-07072011
https://soundcloud.com/paisatgesonor/pendulum-music-la-panera
In this research work of valorising, spreading and updating works of sound art, in 2015, we interpreted the work Roraate by the most international artist of sound art of Spain: Llorenç Barber. This reinterpretation of the work Roraate, with experimental instruments and sound sculptures realized in metal took place in the Paraninfo of the University of Barcelona the 24 of February of 2015. The video of the Roraate concert is on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db8NNjZ0I3Q The audio of the Roraate concert is on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/psicoexperimental/roraate-de-llorenc-barber-al-paranimf-de-la-ub Josep Cerdà, is a member of the Palas y Musas research group of the Aesthetic Research Institute and the Institute of Research in Applied Mathematics in Systems of the Faculty of Aesthetics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM. Josep Cerdà is a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Experimentation and Research of Sound Sculpture (GIEIES) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM, CIPEI / CORIEDA of the Faculty of Art and Design FAD.
Josep CerdĂ / cerda@ub.edu / josepcerda@gmail.com / 0034 626 158 729
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