Installation in collaboration with Sound artist Josué Moreno
2.5 x 1.5 meters
Paper, pins, gold, sound and interactive system
“The Oracle: Tell Me a Secret” consists of an oval made of hundreds of little pieces of paper stuck to the wall, fragments of the correspondence between Álava and Moreno that are sensitive to the slightest air current, humidity, and the acoustic vibrations of the sound composition accompanying the piece. The sounds created by the audience are included in the sound environment of the room through an amplifying system and process.
These echoes are filtered, softened, or magnified, and accompanied by watery and rolling sounds. As an aspect of performance, there is an encrypted music score in the art installation, performed several times every day by a group of musicians, thus providing the music base with an audible content.
Among the ideas on which Moreno bases his work, there is Marconi’s theory, among other creators, which says that sounds never cease to exist; they become imperceptible and, with the adequate technical means, the sounds produced since the dawn of our days could be heard.
Álava’s work includes drawings and performances based on dialogues; collaborations with artists, and the importance of chance. Her work invites us to immerse ourselves in spaces or situations where “fragile materials transmit a strength that does not seem to be coming from them.”
“We are proud to present an artistic project in the form of an installation –one of the best forms to reveal the confluence between visual and sound fields– the result of a genuine interdisciplinary collaboration between visual artist Gema Alava (born in Spain, resident of New York, where she has been developing an outstanding artistic trajectory) and composer-sound artist Josué Moreno (born in Jaen, Spain, resident of Helsinki). Their installation is brought to us via Gema Alava Studio. We have no doubt that its success will encourage galleries to incorporate sound art into their future programs.” –Catalog. Estampa, Sound In, 2011—
ARTICLES ON THIS PIECE
Arribas, Victoria “Entrevista a Gema Alava.” /Plataforma de Arte Contemporaneo, 11/28/2011
Costa, José Manuel, “VIA LIMITE – El Objeto Sonoro.” /RTVE – RADIO CLASICA, 01/11/2011