Displacements by JORGE SOLÍS ARENAZAS

LINE presents 'Displacements', the debut album from Mexican sound artist, essayist, and composer, Jorge Solís Arenazas.

For a while now, I’ve been intrigued by the relations between language, chaotic systems, and the randomness inherent in discrete magnitudes. How is it that stable codes can assimilate accidents and unpredictable behaviors? How do small yet persistent variations give rise to structures of meaning? In what ways can language remain plastic enough to build upon stimuli—whether chaotic or tending toward randomness—in order to create new spatial relationships?

'Displacements' emerged from these reflections. It assembles pieces created by manipulating materials often regarded as «unmusical», from which I shaped textures, rhythmic patterns, layers of uncontrolled events, and harmonic phenomena based on their spectral density. The process itself resembled a pendular motion, a continuous displacement between two poles. On one hand, the notion of uncertainty and vulnerability in the face of uncontrollable events; on the other, the sense of apparent stability that arises when deeper structures of listening and memory come to the surface—structures that are strictly speaking cultural markers, both material and symbolic prints, extending beyond any personal sphere, even if we encounter them only through personal choices. Although their emergence is rarely sudden, aren’t these forces fundamentally comparable to fleeting accidents in the sense that they, too, escape our control?

'Displacements' is a journey through various ranges of the audible frequency spectrum. Both versions of 'Anabasis'—taken from the Greek word for ascension—are composed mainly of feedback recordings and focus on the upper frequency range. 'Catabasis'—a journey of descent— originates in red or brownian noises, moving through lower frequencies. 'Eschatia'—the edge of the exterior, a frontier or border to even time—is an exploration between two lands, an interlude in the voyage, making use of different synthesizers for the tonal layers and recovering residues of rhythmic structures created with modular synthesis.
— JORGE SOLÍS ARENAZAS

—

Jorge Solís Arenazas is a sound artist, essayist, and composer of music for film and the performing arts based in Mexico City. His work explores themes related to the materiality of language and sound, with a particular interest in mechanisms of ambiguity (working with indeterminate materials, chaotic events, found objects, etcetera). In addition to music created through various types of synthesis and electroacoustic experimentation, he continually develops acousmatic research, installations, documentary works and radio pieces.

His work has been presented at Mexico City’s International Arts Festival, the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Morelia, and the International Contemporary Art Festival in Leon. It has also been exhibited at the Chopo Museum, the University Museum of Sciences and Arts, the Kaluz Museum, the National Center for the Arts, the Los Pinos Cultural Complex and various independent galleries.

He has curated for Casa del Lago and the digital platform Vano Sonoro, and has developed work as a sound programmer and radio host for Radio UNAM programs that focused on experimental music and sound art. He is the author of several books, including 'Cuaderno de agua', 'D', and 'El cuerpo resonante', and has contributed to anthologies and collective volumes. In 2006, he was awarded the Elías Nandino National Poetry Prize, and in 2023, he received the National Dance Prize from the National Institute of Fine Arts and the Metropolitan Autonomous University for original music. 'Displacements' is his debut album.

www.noema.com

Richard Chartier's LINE publishes editions documenting compositional & installation works by international sound artists & composers exploring the aesthetics of minimalism.

lineimprint.com
Instagram
bsky.app