Hidden cities by Mario D'Andreta

released January 5, 2007

Field recordings and audio editing: Mario D'Andreta
Art works: Mario D'Andreta


Recensione Blow up #129, febbraio 2009

Al momento è il più bel disco di D’Andreta, che attenua iI volume noise per timbri più esplorativi e metallici, come nell’incipit di City Slang che si trasforma in calde fumigazioni notturne dai tombini di strade deserte. Quiete Urbana è un drone bianco, ora eco di aereo, ora riverbero di tuono, ora vento tra caseggiati abbandonati. Notturno vibra come la voce d’un fantasma d’una vecchia, il suono del vuoto in un orecchio raffreddato che si riempie d’un nulla compresso e poi condensa in un oggetto luminescente.

At the moment this is the most beautiful album by D’Andreta, who attenuates the noise volume for more exploratory and metallic timbres, as in the incipit of "City Slang" which turns into hot nocturnal fumigations from the manholes of deserted streets. "Quiete Urbana" is a white drone, now an echo of an airplane, now a reverberation of thunder, now a wind between abandoned buildings. "Notturno" vibrates like the voice of a ghost of an old woman, the sound of emptiness in a cooled ear that fills with a compressed nothingness and then condenses into a luminescent object.

(7/8) Dionisio Capuano


Dal brano "City Slang" il videoartista MrEvolK (www.youtube.com/mrevolk) ha realizzato il video "Genius Loci", visibile alla pagina www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jGr27MFv50

GENIUS LOCI

The project “Genius Loci” was conceived in 2006 with the aim of exploring the interaction between man and his environment within the contemporary patterns of life in a globalized world.

This work can be placed within the perspective of human ecology, with artistic, as well as social and political intent of drawing attention to the effects of this interaction, in terms of quality of life and environmental sustainability.

“Genius Loci” offers an experience of perception somewhat whispered, in an oneiric and evocative atmosphere: an attempt of spiritual solicitation of sensibility dulled under the burden of the cultural dominion of technology.

In front of the hectic rhythm of the citizens’ and tourists’ movements and gestures, the history and the spirit of the place (genious loci), symbolized by the figures of ghosts, gain life and shape. The movements of the marble, thus, represent the act of creation: the self-transcending tendency of the art that shapes the sonic matter in the final search of silence, conceivable as the moment of self-awareness.

For this purpose, we made use of audio and video field recordings, properly manipulated in order to explore, through an effect of estrangement, symbolic dimensions of everyday-life experience, beyond the “apparently evident”.

Storyboard: a journey in seven steps

1. Searching for the genius: the silence of the veiled statues and animated fountains
2. technology and perception of reality: cameras in the crowded square of the ancient metropolis
3. Urban siege: a walk through the city
4. Fall of myths: crumbling of matter
5. Mirror of consciousness: reflections on the water
6. Research of new forms: geometrical pulsations
7. Silent look: views on city traffic