8-channel sensor-based algorithmic performance
Institute of Sonology, June 2023

Alchemists were the first to attempt a systematisation of matter, in search of possible forms of metamorphosis. Alchemy is a path of transformation, in which the focus is on process. Jung asserted that alchemical speculations anticipated the revelations of psychology with regard to the structure and archetypes of the unconscious. In the duality of opposites and in the mystical attempt to achieve a synthesis between them, the dialectical principle of the psyche becomes manifest.
The performance Mysterium Coniunctionis represents an attempt to synthesise my research path in Sonology, metaphorising it through an alchemical symbolism that intersects layers of acoustic and semantic meaning. The musical processes with which I interact through gestural control reflect the duality of the archetypal elements: water and fire. These are not, however, authentic fire and water, but their 'alchemised' form, obtained by training neural network material resynthesis models. In the hands of the performer-alchemist, these two opposing material identities are shaped by movement, resulting in contrasts, coagulations, distillations, and sublimations that propagate in space. The choreography of gestures dramatises the oxymoron at the foundation of alchemy: grasping the impalpable by fusing irreconcilable extremes.

8-channel collaborative performance
International Conference on Live Coding, Utrecht / Institute of Sonology

Cross-adaptive relationships happen when musicians share sounds over a distributed network and let other performers’ signals affect their processes by means of machine listening analysis and mapping. Experiments in a cross-adaptive laptop ensemble have been conducted throughout 2023 at the Institute of Sonology together with Giulia Francavilla, Francesco Corvi, and Elif Gülin Soğuksu and subsequently presented in several occasions in the Netherlands, including the ICLC conference in Utrecht. Improvisation in a cross-adaptive network feels considerably different from standard free improvisation in the way the performers’ agency is tightly interweaved and the sonic relationships occur through data feedbacks.

Cycle of algorithmic miniatures
Released on Miniature Recs

Miniata Synaxis is music for an impossible liturgy, an imaginary gathering of praying monks where the tropes of polyphony have been sabotaged by an exuberant xenharmonic compositional style. These twenty-six miniatures – or rather, ‘vespers’ – have been written for a physical model of an organ designed to be controlled through a live coding environment. Following the label’s credo, ‘brevity is elegant’, none of the miniatures exceeds a minute in length.

Improvisational performance dealing with the relationship between embodied and sonic gestures. The performer traces movements in the space with their hands to produce and process sounds.

The act of morphing by hands an ungraspable, immaterial matter produces concrete sensorial events, questioning the notion of tangibility and the consistency of our experiences. A disciplined vocabulary of movements interacts with a dynamic system designed to produce uncertainty and provoke unpredictable perceptual shifts. The outcome is a constant dialectic between the performer and a combinatorial set of possibilites.

Sound design and live electronics for “De Rerum Natura”, a play directed by Paolo Musio. Performed in several theatres and archeological sites including Musei Capitolini, Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica (Rome) and Arena del Sole (Bologna).

Excerpts of the epic-didactic poem of Lucretius are declaimed in Latin and Italian over a granular-textural soundscape, depicting an atomistic conception of reality. The live sound tries to produce a psychological space where the original doctrines of De Rerum Natura can be inspected in depth: epicurean philosophy, ancient physicalism, theory of perception, natural sciences, and atheism.

Algorithmic audiovisual installation with Nesso for WeSa Festival (Seoul, South Korea), in collaboration with Umanesimo Artificiale.

Quintet is an ensemble of algorithmic virtual instruments based on acoustic physical models. The installation consists of a real time recording of live coded articulations of the instruments, placed in a binaural immersive sonic environment; the data of the algorithms is used as a real-time input for several forms of sonic visualization.

Experimental documentary realized with Francesco Corvi.

Albania 1997 reconstructs the historical events of 1997 Albanian civil war caused by a major economic breakdown. The tragic events, portrayed by heavily processing archival sounds and images from television news, are counterpointed by elaborations of traditional Albanian polyphonic folk singing. Rather than giving a linear narrative, events are shown from a psychic perspective where representation and imagination overlap.

Sound design for I Mille Nomi di Fermi , an educational sound walk at the Physics Department of La Sapienza University of Rome, directed by Marcello Cava.

While exploring the artifacts of pioneering research of XXth century physics, the audience listens to a recording in which professors explain the relevance of Fermi's achievement; a minimalist sound design enhances the didactic content.

Sound design, soundtrack and live electronics for Octavia: una tragedia romana , a theatre play in motion, directed by Marcello Cava and performed in several archeological sites (Pompeii, Palatine, Imperial Forums, Trajan Markets, Musei Capitolini).

Adapted from a tragedy probably written by Seneca, the play requires the movement of the audience through the archeological site; headphones and wireless transmitters are employed to listen to the actors and the music. The soundtrack is performed while following the audience during their walk.

Aleatoric performance for house concerts and small venues (public premiere at PoverArte Festival, Bologna).

Hyperfocus is a combinatorial piece that involves algorithms and chance techniques (including the rolling of die) to actualize meditative spaces. It is composed of several layers: poetry, field recordings, microtonal tones, electroacoustic fragments. The aim of the performance is to produce silence by accident, without imposing it. The contemplative behavior of the performance explores liminal thresholds of attentions, seeking for a slow, yet constant movement between states of awareness.

Intermedial performance at Municipal Gallery of Modern Art of Rome, directed by philosopher Giuliano Compagno.

68slogan/Slowgame18 was a commemorative sonic dramaturgy for the anniversary of 50 years since the 1968 political and cultural uprising. It included live electronics, instrumental improvisation, theatrical fragments, and poems, performed through the gallery with Vittorio Montalti, Aureliano Amadei, Tiziana Lo Conte, Altrimenti, Nicola Boccardi, and Susanna Garcia.

Sound design and soundtrack for La Peste, a theatre play in movement, directed by Marcello Cava at Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital (Rome).

Adapted from Albert Camus' novel, La Peste tells the story of an Algerian city experiencing an epidemic plague. The audience follows a path through the hospital, while listening to a pre-recorded acousmatic play of text and music. During their walk, they encounter artifacts, symbols, and actors performing part of the play. The music was entirely composed at the hospital, trying to give an expressionist, dramatic rendition of the tragic condition of plague. Interestingly, this play happened way before we actually experienced a pandemic global condition: what on small scale was the story of the city of Oran, it became our large scale reality.

Curatorship of a series of artistic events organized by Scomodo collective, a self-financed unorthodox magazine of culture and politics.

Events included live electronics, performances, dj sets, slam poetry, and mixed-media art exhibitions taking place in Rome in a variety of places ranging from squats to museums (Città dell'Altra Economia, SpinTime Labs, MaXXI Museum).

Sonorization and live performance of a retrospective art exhibition of painter Gianluca Lerici (Prof. Bad Trip) at Palazzo Velli (Rome)

Ten years after Prof. Bad Trip's passing away, Tabularasa Teké Gallery (Carrara) organized a large exhibition of 3d-sensitive paintings by the visionary artist, complemented by sonorizations, dj sets, and live performances by Italian musicians such as Faetal B, La Bestia, Paolo Schiamazzi, and ubiK.

Sound installation for AltaRoma 2014 at the Accademia di Costume e Moda (Rome).

In the context of a large festival presenting emerging talents of fashion design, an exposition of accessories was installed in the Fashion Academy of Rome. Paired with the accessories, an audiovisual installation realized by professor Luigi Mulas Debois was presented to enforce the concept of the collection. The sound employed concrete sounds and electronic processes inspired by the collection's moodboard.

Soundtrack for “Un segno aperto 1980 - 2012”, a documentary by Silvia D’Ortenzi for the art exhibition La Transavanguardia Italiana by Achille Bonito Oliva at Palazzo Reale (Milan).

The exhibition reconstructs an Italian art tendency of the 80s, defined by Achille Bonito Oliva "Transavanguardia", including painters such as Mimmo Paladino, Enzo Cucchi, and Sandro Chia. The exposition includes a documentary with a minimal and simple soundtrack.