A spiritual search for sound

The search for a spiritual dimension of sound has been a common practice among musicians and listeners. In many cases, this search is carried out around a musical instrument and the multiple combinations that we can achieve through it until we reach a personal voice. But what if the sound we’re looking for isn’t all around us, but in a remote Siberian steppe, the icy seas of Antarctica, the Amazon rainforest or the depths of a mining site? We don’t know, but it is precisely through the unknown that we can build an imaginary mythology, where sound is the primordial element in the genesis of the universe. This is the quest, and a goal is not strictly necessary.

oCo is a four-year project developed by Sonoscopia in different parts of the planet. We travel to specific locations looking for an imaginary sound that doesn’t exist and has never been heard. So far, we’ve gone to the prehistoric caves of Iraqi Kurdistan, delved into a rare and vast collection of analogue synthesizers in Rotterdam, descended into the depths of a salt mine in Loulé and met the remote indigenous community of Kurtinurwa, in Colombian Sierra Nevada. In these places, we hear and feel the relationship between sound and spaces and position ourselves as part of nature.

Imaginary soundscapes

oCo is an electroacoustic device that transforms the original sound into an imaginary reinterpretation that adapts to the space where it is presented, producing new ways of listening and perception. In different spaces, specific presentation formats are designed, which adapt and shape themselves to these locations, and may take the form of a concert, sound installation or film. The worked elements portray an imaginary cosmology, where different sonic entities are positioned in time and space.