BOCA A BOCA #1
BOCA A BOCA is a project by CABANAmad that aims to create a network between artists all over the world. This residency program gives the selected artist the opportunity to live and work in the heart of Lisbon, exploring and discovering what the capital has to offer culturally and professionally.
The residency starts in January and will take place the exhibition at the end of the residency,in February, where will be shown new works made in Lisbon.
The first artist is DANIELE GIANNETTI.
Daniele Giannetti is a multimedia artist interested in the use of sounds/vibrations to re-engage with ancient rituals that resonate with different environments and bodies to elicit individual and collective responses. He works with sculptures, performances, installations and a sculptural approach to painting.
BOCA A BOCA happens once a year and it works in-forward, meaning that the present artist, this time Daniele Giannetti, will choose the next one, and so on, creating a borderless networking path between visual artists, photographers, performers, and other ways of expression.
WHALE SANCTUARY
DANIELE GIANNETTI
In the middle of the room an altar made of stony corals, sea anemones and amphipods raises to the ceiling. On top, bone fragments of a whale’s rib lay on a velvet cloth, protected by a glass case. The air is permeated by the sounds of whales singing, echoing from the depth of the sea. Around the room, sound waves of these songs function as musical scores, capturing the secret lyrics of these sea giants.
Where the Tagus River and the Atlantic Ocean meet, Lisbon stands as a marvelous doorway into a complex, rich and vibrant culture. It also is the port from which many have adventured sailing the ocean but, what if the city could also be a portal into the depths of oceanic waters?
For centuries the Tagus River has flowed across the Iberian Peninsula providing sustenance for those living alongside it and carrying nutrients that made estuary waters fertile. Tagus river is exceptionally deep allowing for oceanic species to feel comfortable to enter it but, with the increasing of pollutants and the threats of drying up, the ecosystem has changed affecting all animals without distinction between those who live on land and those under the sea.
With Whale Sanctuary, the artist Daniele Giannetti has created an installation that celebrates the relationship between Lisbon and the ocean. Fascinated by the mechanics and sensible properties of sound and the aesthetic of spirituality, the city has provided the artist many forms of inspiration. The installation combines visual references of religious folklore and the sound piece recreates whale songs using sounds of the city and the sea, the reverberations of the wind on the 25 de Abril Bridge and the friction of flumies on a gong.
Historically altars have been used to worship, honour and offer sacrifices to influence forces beyond human understanding. Much is still unknown about whales, however, their washed up carcasses on local shores have brought them closer to us. Moving away from an anthropocentric view, the Whale Sanctuary pays tribute to these sophisticated and mysterious animals.
The exhibition has been accompanied by Whale Serenades, two live performances that engaged the audience through sound baths in which the artist played the gongs live and sound recording of the city and the sea.
Text by BENEDETTA D’ETTORRE
