Helicotrema X
2021 marks the tenth edition of Helicotrema, the recorded audio festival dedicated to the presentation of narrative and multidisciplinary sound works experienced through collective listening sessions.
This year, the festival takes place in Venice in collaboration with longtime partner Palazzo Grassi/ Punta della Dogana, in Prato hosted by Estuario, and, for the first time outside of Italy, in Barcelona at Hangar.
Helicotrema X premieres on September 3 at the Cinema Galleggiante, an open-air floating cinema curated by Microclima and Edoardo Aruta in Giudecca, Venice.
On this occasion, the festival presents a work by Annea Lockwood and an unreleased site-specific sound piece by Matteo Nasini.
The collaboration with Microclima is particularly significant because it supported the first edition of the festival in 2012 at Serra dei Giardini, Venice.
This year, the festival dedicates part of its program to the topic of travel, considered in its many facets, and to the concept of sound documentation of...past events.
With sound works by:
Cory Arcangel
Roberta Busechian
Chiara Caterina
Stefano Giannotti
GOODW.Y.N.
James T. Green / Olivia Bradley-Skill
Mariangela Gualtieri
Sebastiane Hegarty
Annea Lockwood
Nicolò Masiero Sgrinzatto
Flavia Mazzarino / Tommaso Pandolfi / Filippo Perfetti / Pietro Zanardi
Martina Melilli
Abinadi Meza
Matteo Nasini
Eugenio Perner
Nicolò Porcelluzzi / Ivan Carozzi
Babu Eshwar Prasad
Sofia Saldanha
Pablo Sanz
Gianluca Stazi / Giuseppe Casu
Enrico Vezzi
Giulia Vismara
Chris Watson
Maria Chiara Ziosi
Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, Venice
29 September 2021
Helicotrema – Recorded Audio Festival opens its tenth edition, presenting three listening sessions on the concept of documentation, inspired by Bruce Nauman’s research.
Several of the American artist’s works take the form of sound traces of gestures and actions. Inspired by Nauman’s approach to sound, Helicotrema X proposes a programme of sound works by artists, authors, musicians and performers who question the potential of sound to act as a trace and document of gestures, actions and past events.
6.30 p.m.
Tracks + Traces
Listening session curated by Blauer Hase and Giulia Morucchio
How can sound accommodate and preserve the imprint of a body’s gesture in a space? The first listening session of Helicotrema X will present a selection of audio works by Italian and international authors, dedicated to investigating, on a sound level, the rest and the trace of a performative action.
With works by GOODW.Y.N., James T. Green / Olivia Bradley-Skill, Mariangela Gualtieri, Annea Lockwood, Flavia Mazzarino / Tommaso Pandolfi / Filippo Perfetti / Pietro Zanardi, Eugenio Perner, Sofia Saldanha, Pablo Sanz.
7.30 p.m.
The Eternal Present
Live performance by Ivan Carozzi and Nicolò Porcelluzzi
The second listening session will be curated and presented by Nicolò Porcelluzzi (journalist) and Ivan Carozzi (writer), and will be dedicated to the use of archive materials in audio storytelling.
Porcelluzzi and Carozzi will present fragments from their audio-documentaries (made for RAI Radio 3 and Storytel), reflecting on the narrative use of traces and residual sounds of political and social events of the past.
9.30 p.m.
A Journey Through Trees
Listening session by Chris Watson (video link)
The third listening session will be dedicated to Chris Watson, pioneer of field recording and one of the most famous international sound artists. His entire oeuvre can be considered a monumental documentation still in progress: an atlas of the sounds produced by planet Earth. For Helicotrema 2021, Watson will connect online with the audience present in the Teatrino, presenting a listening tour dedicated to his long career and answering questions from the audience.
