In June I spent ten days in Montemor-o-Novo, in the Alentejo, co-curating the Sonoscultura residency with the Portuguese media artist Inês Castanheira. Five artists from around the world joined us at Oficinas do Convento, in the old Convento de São Francisco, to work on sound sculpture.
The residency closed with an exhibition, Elemental Echoes, at the Galeria Municipal, on view until 19 July. My own contribution was ASH Transmissions.
In ASH Transmissions, burning magnesium opens an FM transmission between a small altar and a large steel plate. The plate is both speaker and antenna. As the fire burns, the signal fills with noise, overtones and corrupted radio; when it goes out, the transmission ends and only ash remains. It is a piece about how fragile a signal is, and how material.
Thanks to Inês, to the five artists, and to Nuno at the Galeria Municipal for his technical help.