liminal

The work grows out of below20 — sound museum of silence, an archive of environments recorded under 20 dB, the threshold considered the scientific limit of silence. Absolute silence is impossible: below that threshold lies a universe of ignored sounds. Liminal uses these recordings as focal points for a research on alternative ways of producing and listening to music.

The performance works on the limits of hearing, both technical and conceptual: infrasound and ultrasound, high and low frequencies, ambient noise, the sounds of the audience, of the musicians and of the machines on stage. These residual sounds are offered to the audience as a perceptive experience that is not only auditory: the vibration of low frequencies is felt by the body, while a spectrum analyser makes sound visible.

The presence of the spectators is part of the work, since they shape the ambient sound. Active and involved, with different degrees of awareness, they contribute with the environment to the uniqueness of each event: as the place and the audience change, the performance changes, and sound becomes a research tool.