The creation is nourished by the shamanic tradition, one of the most ancient forms of spirituality, a practice that is not limited to a cult or religion but is rather a tool for greater awareness and a deeper connection with oneself, Nature, and the Others.
In 'X' the symbology that inspires the research emerges clearly: Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and personification of the Moon, roams the forests and fields equipped with arches and quivers. In the archetypal imaginary, Artemis represents the predisposition to equal relationships with men, solidarity between women, and the ability to pursue a goal and accept a challenge. More fundamentally, she embodies the archetype of the psychologically independent, tenacious and at the same time reflective, intuitive, and passionate woman; the moon, the archetype of the Great Mother, the most natural and instinctive part of the 'feminine'; the cardinal directions, the sound represents the pin of a compass needle and the dancer, following it, explores the space created by the music heading towards the four cardinal points that have been experienced during shamanic journeys: the Spirit of the North, of the South, of the West and of the East.
The conscious shamanic practices are inducing to the awakening from everybody's spiritual numbness, answering to questions and healing the path of every single individual: they lead to look inward. Clearly, this numbness has been brought about by urbanization, by a detachment from nature and animals, and by a society that tends to suppress the spiritual and collective aspects of humankind, favoring instead the individualistic, materialistic, and productivity-enhancing aspects of life.
Music has the great power of making the inner gaze immediate, carrying out an investigation and a critical analysis of the assumptions behind the truth. In 'X', the sound is the protagonist and the dancer's body is just 'a' body that is more prepared to assist the viewer to feel… The audience shall trust the experience they are about to receive, avoiding any rationalization, but rather taking advantage of this moment to let their thoughts rest and nourish their spirit.
(Text adapted from Sosta Palmizi.)
Pablo Bermudez (Video Art)
Pablo Bermudez was born in 1988 in Pereira, Colombia. He moved to Barcelona in 1998 and to Como, Italy in 2002, where he currently lives. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti Aldo Galli — IED Como. In 2013, Pablo created his first 'Sottovuoto.' Sottovuoto is the process of placing the pages of magazines inside a vacuum — extracting the air after sealing the object in a bag — a method he uses for many of his works. Pablo handpicks images from magazines, particularly fashion and advertisements that feature the glossy faces of models to represent ephemeral beauty. Once vacuumed and crumpled, it creates a sculptural piece following the form it was folded into before being vacuumed. Sottovuoto was first introduced during his solo show 'Senzafiato' at Spazio Pedraglio in 2014. The exhibit not only introduced the technique but also let the artist explore other ways to show the fleeting beauty of an image by distorting and lacerating the pages of the magazine with a scalpel blade. Pablo is the founding member and main curator of B-house Art Company. (Text adapted from Modeka Art.)
Seething Mass
Seething Mass are Manila-based sound and visual artists Caliph8 and Nonplus. They met in the mid-90s while in art school, sharing a deep interest in crate-digging, graffiti, hip-hop and other forms of artistic expression — later engaging in visual and sonic experiments and performances, developing a creative language that deals with ideas of merging, hybridity and their transformative implications.
Maia Reyes (a.k.a. Nonplus) is one of the few consistent female sonic experimenters and DJs in the Manila experimental sound community since the mid-90s. Her work with sound is a globally scaled montage of past sensibilities and strange tonal and rhythmic vocabularies, resulting in new cultural hybrids and intentional sonic anomalies where sound processing and composition fuel her live performances and DJ sets.
Caliph8 (a.k.a. Arvin Nogueras) is a sound and visual artist active since the mid-90s. Nogueras delves into sample-based granular synthesis using sound archives, treating samples beyond their ontological status — as a part of history. He dives deep into genres from the past, manipulating and shaping them to produce a rhizome-like outcome of obstacles and possibilities.
As Seething Mass, they examine free-form improvisation — combining sound manipulation techniques with prepared gear or objects with other recorded or sampled sounds, where ideas of tension, summing and resolution all interweave. (Text adapted from Auspic Paper, 2021, for TheCube Forum Music Festival.)
