valparaiso's seaport not only fuels the region’s economy, it also provides the backdrop for every moment of life within the city. due to the city’s bowl-shaped geography, the sea and its maritime activity are visible from any vantage pointwithin the city’s borders. this omnipresent view of the sea is accompanied by a unique soundscape, which nonetheless remains inaudible to nearly all observers: the constant chatter of radio signals emanating from the sailing vessels crowding the ocean’s surface, and the equally dense chatter of marine life just beneath the surface.

depesca is the result of my exploration of this hidden soundscape, above and below the water. to capture and recordthe vhf and hf radio activity, i met with radio amateurs in the radio club valparaiso’s headquarters who trained me to use their radio equipment. to listen in on the aquatic life of the port, i went sound fishing with my hydrophone - which i lowered into the water at various spots along the coastline and from my rented boat. in these underwater audio excursions, i became aware of a constant crackling effect, which i learned was the sound of the millions of snapping shrimp that make their home along the chilean coast. to enable the city’s residents and tourists to hear these strange animal sounds, i set up spontaneous listening stations along the port, where passersby could tune in to theunder water soundscape through a hydrophone. combining these ordinarily undetected air- and water-borne sounds, depesca is my audio portrait of the inaudible spaces that border and contain the port of valparaiso. accompanying the audio piece is a parallel video portrait, illustrating the constant presence of the sea in any vantagepoint from the surrounding hills.

special thanks to: tsonami festival team, pia michelle, radio club valparaiso, john grzinich and voltage comunicacion.

escala is a piece commissioned by the artist andrea wolf, for her video installation “weather has been nice”. the installation, in the artist’s words, is a series of generative video pieces in which vintage, found postcards are slowly broken down into their basic elements. a pixel sorting algorithm manipulates the postcards, creating a system where the elements are continuously regenerating and composing new images.

in the spirit of the generative quality of the video, i programmed a generative sound system that reads the same postcard images used in the installation. the software traces those images pixel by pixel and generates multiple musical parameters, in response to the varying color values of the pixels. the sounds generated are a mix of synthesized compositions and processed recordings of voices reading the content of the same postcards. the piece has been presented in the new inc end-of-year showcase at the new museum in ny in 2016, and at sala de arte ccu in santiago de chile.

eemf01 is the first in a multichannel and site-specific series, in which i explore the electromagnetic activity of the spaces where the pieces are performed. eemf01 is an exploration of the electromagnetic activity in knockdown center, a former door factory in queens, ny. while performing another piece there in 2013, i noticed the building channeled different radio signals through its architecture, introducing multiple unintended sounds into my set. for eemf01 four years later, i wanted to put that particular feature of the space to intentional use. my process began with the collection of electromagnetic field recordings from the building and its surroundings, which i later edited and spacialized for the 12 speaker configuration in the performance. these sounds were accompanied by my live improvisation with electric guitar and electric toothbrushes, and combined with a battery powered circuit i carried around the space to pick up, and amplify, different radio signals channeled through the structure of the building.

eemf01 was presented in the 5th anniversary of ct::swam. this piece is a stereo recording from that live performance, where the recorder was set at the center of the circle of 12 speakers.

recording by gus callahan

special thanks to: ct::swam, daniel neumann, and gus callahan