«We should be able to hear this information, or rather narrative, as a neutral voice inside us. But something has gone wrong. All creation is a language and nothing but a language, which for some inexplicable reason we can't read outside and can't hear inside.[...]
Thus our real life and purpose are conducted below our threshold of consciousness.»
Philip K. Dick, Valis (1981)
In Radio Free Albemuth one can glimpse the obsessions Philip K. Dick had as a child. A protagonist who lived between entities perceived only by him. But the writer was simply pointing out a universal phenomenon: every human being is endowed with imagination and it can easily happen that imagination ends up being confused with reality. Especially when one lives in repressive times, such as a totalitarian regime, a pandemic, aggressive media waves or a war that causes a drastic polarization of the world. Free Radio Albemuth is an incredibly timeless book that clings to many contemporary events. The radio is portrayed as a non-physical medium that delivers messages which irrupts onto the unconscious.
Luisa’s intention to reconstruct Valis, is connected with her obsession on Jerusalem, which generated in her daily life intense dreams at night, hallucinations and sudden dejavus. When it was time for her to return there, a global pandemic had broken out and the world became more floating and timeless than ever. Luisa was navigating the past listening to the dead voices of her whatsapp audios that she sent and received in 2019 Jerusalem. But they were frozen voices. Somewhere in the universe Jerusalem 2019 is alive and reachable, ALhmesde is the star where this world resides. Where an entity transmits sound signals too complex for a person to understand and play.
The whatsapp audios where the raw material to create theis piece that would allow Luisa to connect with her past. Obviously the audios were made of rational words that were not in line with the idea of going beyond rational language. For this reason the artist created a indecipherable, vague, chaotic language converting the whatsapp audio into midi and then into muscale scores that were played by a musician (Mariagrazia Vincitorio) in the radio station. Luisa connects to the radio on top of the Collle dell’Osservanza and embarks on her pilgrimage.
This project was carried out as part of the research team “Towards the Realm of Materiality - Designing Philip K. Dick’s Non- Existing Devices Through Transmedia Processes.” which aim to transform a philosophical concept, or a social concern, into a designed technological device or into a non-existing object. It will be followed by a publication with the publishing house Nero (Rome) and an exhibition at Fabbrica del Vapore (Milan).
Mentored by Massimo Barloni and German Duarte.
In collaboration with Neuradio (Bologna).
See SCORES sample