A microphone is suspended in mid-air from the top of a building. As winds blow, the microphone begins to swing and touches the wall from which it hangs.
Video documentation #1 (PSSWRD: “HITU2023″).
Video documentation #2 (PSSWRD: “HITU2021″).
actions & interventions
HURLING INTO THE UNKNOWN
DRIFTING
A loudspeaker oscillates at the mercy of the waves. When the waves touch the loudspeaker, they set it in motion and thus modulate the white noise that is being played back.
Video documentation (PSSWRD: “D2023″).
OBSTRUCTIONS
A loudspeaker diffusing white noise is installed on the side of a road. When a car drives on the road, it intersects the projection of white noise generating cuts in the propagation of sound.
Video documentation (PSSWRD: “O2023″).
IGNITE
An incendiary mixture consumes the membrane of a loudspeaker, devouring its insides.
HIGH TIDE
photo by Katinka Meersy
A loudspeaker projecting white noise is slowly taken by the high tide. As the tide rises, the white noise gets modulated in relation to the movement of the water. As sound disappears, a feeling of separation and withdrawal fills the people witnessing the loss.
Video documentation (PSSWRD: “HT2020″)
ALL BODIES END IN SILENCE
The work presents several actions Davide has performed with microphones. These actions reflect on the materiality of the sound devices and explore their corporeal aspects, as sounding bodies that he interacts with in unexpected ways. The actions are developed with a direct dramaturgy, each ending with the death of the microphone and consequent absence of sound. Examples of actions include burning a microphone, leaving it on the rail tracks, launching it into the air with a firework, hitting it with a slingshot, … Davide’s actions explore the ephemeral nature of corporeal existence through the presence, absence, and disappearance of sound as a metaphor for life and death.
VIDEO LIST:
Departure [02':40'']
Cut-off [01':38'']
Falling Apart [03':24'']
Until When It Dies [06':10'']
They Hear The Silence So Loud [02':19'']
Untitled [03':08'']
My Target Is Your Eyes [02':34'']
As The Sound Burns [03':38'']
Davide Tidoni: locations, actions, sound, video, editing.
Videos produced by Overtoon and Davide Tidoni.
SINGLE STROKES
Two microphones are used as a pair of drumstick to play the snare drum. The recordings explore the physical properties and affordances of the microphone as an object. The work is part of a series of actions that investigate the practical materiality of the microphone and violate the basic rules and principles of audio technology. More actions here.
A LOUDSPEAKER BLOWS UP
photo (1,2) by Pieter Kers | Beeld.nu
A loudspeaker blows up and falls apart. The silence that emerges after the explosion emphasises the transition from presence to absence.
ALL OF A SUDDEN
A microphone is placed at the side of a road. A performer is positioned on the opposite side of the road and pulls the microphone from the cable. The microphone keeps crossing the road until it is suddenly hit by passing cars.
THREE DOGS
Polish translation of Ronald Reagan’s joke about american and communist dogs. The audio was played back in loop for 1 hour on Patelnia Square, Warsaw on the 4th of july 2016 in the occasion of the NATO summit in Poland.
Here’s story about three dogs.
An American dog, a Polish dog and a Russian dog.
They are all having a visit, and the American dog was telling them how things were in his country.
He said, “You know, you bark… after you bark long enough, then somebody comes along, gives you some meat.”
And the polish dog said, “What’s meat?”
And the Russian dog says, “What’s bark?”.
Ronald Reagan – President of the United States
EXAGGERATED FOOTSTEPS
In the video I activate the different acoustics of an empty building by means of a pair of metal plates attached to my shoes.
BEYOND THE YELLOW LINE
A microphone moves closer and closer to a passing train and eventually gets hit. In this work, the microphone is exposed to the consequences of breaking the (safety) distance which usually separates it from the sound source.
UNDER THE BRIDGE
The resonance of a concrete tunnel is triggered by the explosion of a series of firecrackers.
IN THE BLINK OF AN EAR
In the video I activate the acoustics of an empty factory by hitting the wall with a stick. To visually emphasize the sound of the hit, I adopt the association: silence=black / sound=light.
THROUGH THE WINDOW
A loudspeaker is positioned on the second floor inside a building.
A performer stands outside the building with a microphone in his hand.
When the performer is ready, they throw the microphone inside the building, trying to get it through the window and land it as close to the loudspeaker as possible.
When the microphone lands inside the building, it triggers a sound feedback.
The audience can split up and watch the action from either outside or inside the building.
MY TARGET IS YOUR EYES
photo by Luca Ghedini
A performer tries to hit a microphone with a slingshot. The impact of the hit is amplified and diffused at high volume from a loudspeaker. The amplification of the hit allows the thrower to experience the “sensitivity” of the microphone, or in other words: to understand and share the feelings of another body.
HOW FAR CAN I GET
A performer swings a microphone in the air and loosen the cable a few more inches with each turn. The action continues until the cable is long enough that the microphone crashes against the wall.
The performance is a metaphor about becoming aware of one own’s limitations.
Rough documentation video (PSSWRD: “nevertoofar”)
A VOICE WANDERS IN DISPERSION AROUND THE CITY
In the video, I use my voice as a strategy that allows me to survive in a city where I feel like a stranger. Led by the acoustics of the places I encounter in my wandering, I end up silent in an empty building. My voice has the double function of making me discovering the acoustic response of the places I find, and sustaining my own presence already undermined by the clash with the metropolis.
RESONANT FREQUENCY
The tuning of the voice on a certain frequency hits the metal plates of the grid and set them in motion.
A BALLOON FOR LINZ
A Balloon for Linz brings to light the acoustic response of specific locations in Linz. Together with the video, a series of exploratory walks were organized in the city of Linz. Participants were invited to pop balloons and listen to the acoustic architecture of the urban space. The project received an honorary mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2011.