SUPERIMPOSITION

30.8.24, 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM

English

Free

Sound & text intensive

4-10 pm | Video- and Soundinstallation SUPERIMPOSITION
7 pm | Artist and Curator Talk

SUPERIMPOSITION explores the concept of earworms – those sonic agents that coercively graft themselves onto the brain until they become parasites and provoke mechanisms of cognitive control. Already known at the end of the 19th century, the phenomena were later defined as “brainworms” by Oliver Sacks. Sound worms are linked to mass culture such as pop music, advertisements, video games, and TV theme songs. They also inhabit airports, bars, shops, gyms, and shopping centres, and are characterised by sequences of melodies that are difficult to escape.

Based on research, SUPERIMPOSITION launched a data analysis of more than 10.000 music tracks featured in the popular international charts from 2000 to 2022. This analysis - which is based on the quantity and repetitiveness of the music – has been automated with a specially developed software. Algorithms and data analysis techniques were used to select the most characteristic lyrics. Their superimposition composes the work SUPERIMPOSITION, a composition in which no melody is recognisable.

The work is conceived as a performative act, a fashion show that recalls ancient rituals in which the performers and the audience become a single body on stage. The garments made of sound-absorbing fabrics, which look like sculptural dresses, have been presented in a fashion-show-like choreography. The textile materials, identified with the technical-scientific support of the Politecnico di Torino, are capable of refracting and absorbing sound pressure. The scenic and sound dramaturgy of the performance, which was presented in the Great Hall of the historic Cercle Cité in Luxembourg at the end of April 2024, has also been interpreted in the video work realised.

The video work and the sound piece SUPERIMPOSITION by the artists collective Polisonum will be presented in the Auditorium through a looped screening from 4 pm. The artists and curators will be presenting the research and the work at 7 pm in a dialogue with the audience.

Sound and music are at fundamental columns of Haus der Kunst programme and are part of a broader transdisciplinary approach to arts, across generations and national borders. SUPERIMPOSITION focuses on reception, and on listening in particular, and this is why it is part of Open Haus, the free access for all monthly appointment dedicated to new forms of learning and engagement.

Curated by Francesca Ceccherini and Anastasia Chaguidouline.

Supported by Direzione Generale Creatività Contemporanea (Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity) of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (2023).

Credits

Artistic project: Polisonum (Filippo Lilli, Donato Loforese)
Curators: Francesca Ceccherini and Anastasia Chaguidouline
Data curator: Elisa Bernardoni
Fashion design: MARIOS
Acoustic technical advice: Politecnico di Torino
Video: Vittorio Antonacci, Cristian Glare
Performers: Vera Borghini, Erica Bravini, Luca della Corte, Valentina Sansone, Michael Incarbone
Lead partner: Alac – L’Agence luxembourgeoise d’action Culturelle, Cercle Cité
Public collection: MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna Bologna
Cultural partner:
Alte Fabrik (Rapperswil, CH)
Ars Elettronica (Linz, AT)
Careof (Milan, IT)
Haus der Kunst (Munich, DE)
Politecnico di Torino (IT)
OTO SOUND MUSEUM (Zurich, CH)