POETOPHONIE

The aim of the video and interactive performance Poetophonie is to investigate the relationship between concrète sounds and poetry. This by revealing the interaction between people, sounds, real and imaginary places, experiencing the meaning of cultural identity through the “writing” in its multiple forms. “Writing” (field recordings and recorded voices of an interacting audience) are intended as trace of something that has been, that passed through, traces of memories. But, at the same time, “writing” is intended as trace of something that “is”, that in fact exists.

During the lecture the short video-work Poetophonie will be shown. The following discussion and a text-sound interaction with the audience are the main part of the lecture.
The starting point of Poetophonie is a composition of voices and field recordings that Alessandra Eramo made in Germany and in Italy on trains, in crowded streets, parks, desolate squares, bars and hospitals. Sounds, that belongs to a “vanishing” present. She finds the sonic and poetical material in the reality, that surrounds her. And just this reality becomes completely sharable: the audience was welcomed on purpose one-by-one in the Eramo’s studio in Berlin; every visitor was invited to listen to an excerpt from her composition. At the same time the visitor received an incomplete sentence taken from the poetry that she wrote inspired by the composition. Soon after listening, the visitor was invited to complete the poetry’s fragment. The visitor's voices and faces were filmed and recorded, giving life to a real collective work. The result is a video, where the audience became actor, „completing“ the sound work with its own voice and face, generating a new poetical texture.

Alessandra Eramo is a sound artist and researcher based in Berlin. Her research is focused upon the hidden archaic memory in music and upon writing in its multiple forms. Working with sound and its relationship to space and territory, she investigates the human voice as a multi-faceted instrument, extending classical boundaries. She combines her voice with field recordings, amplified surfaces, and acoustic instruments, crossing disciplines like sonic poetry and instant composition, visual and performance art.

Currently she is conducting her Ph.D. Research in Sound Studies at the University of the Arts of Berlin. Since 2010 she is the co-founder of Corvo Records, where she has also co-released the LP 'Popewaffen' and her solo LP 'Come ho imparato a volare'.

More information on: www.ezramo.com

A cooperation between General Public and fluctuating images
Curated by Cornelia and Holger Lund

Location:
General Public
Schönhauser Allee 167c
10435 Berlin
U2 > Senefelder Platz
www.generalpublic.de