«Each of us has become private, and no
longer shares the common thought of the
Brain, except at a subliminal level. Thus our
real life and purpose are conducted below
our threshold of consciousness.
»
Philip K. Dick, Valis (1981)
ALhmesde is a research-driven art project exploring the intersection of technology, power, and perception through the lens of the book Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K. Dick. Luisa Pisetta Ravanelli delves into his dystopian vision where authoritarian regimes manipulate reality via hyper-technological communication systems. Central to her investigation is the concept of VALIS—a "Vast Active Living Intelligence System"—a quasi-divine radio technology capable of reshaping human consciousness through subliminal messages and sensory experiences.
Pisetta Ravanelli extends Dick’s philosophical inquiries into the post-human condition and the erosion of free will in technologically mediated societies. She interprets VALIS as both a narrative device and a metaphor for the fragmented, often schizophrenic nature of modern communication.
The reseach culminates in ALhmesde, a fictional continuation of the VALIS mythology, which takes shape of a sound performance, radio broadcast and muscal scores. Developed during the 2020 lockdown, it emerges as a deeply personal response to dislocation and memory. Pisetta Ravanelli transformed WhatsApp voice messages recorded during her time in Jerusalem into MIDI data, generating complex, unrepeatable musical scores. These compositions—played via software like Ableton—translate memory into sonic form, transmitting emotionally charged signals that act as speculative connections with ALhmesde, a mythic place outside time.
By reimagining VALIS as ALhmesde—a distant planet accessed through a technology of her own making—Luisa Pisetta Ravanelli transforms speculative fiction into a method of personal connection and narrative subversion. Through the repurposing of private voice messages and memory-fragments into sound compositions, Pisetta Ravanelli builds an alternative communicative system—one rooted in biography rather than authority, emotion rather than order, and imagination rather than imposed truth.
This artwork was carried out as part of the research project Towards the Realm of Materiality - Designing Philip K. Dick’s Non- Existing Devices Through Transmedia Processes. funded by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and published by NERO editions.
Mentored by Massimo Barloni and German Duarte.
In collaboration with Neuradio (Bologna).
SCORES samples