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LUFF FESTIVAL 2019 – documentation images
photo by Romain Gapany
WHEN SOUND ENDS – documentation images summer 2019
ALERT HEARING – susa valley, 12-18 august
ALERT HEARING
The workshop is an opportunity to research on themes such as: sound propagation in outdoor space, long distance listening, and context-specific sound intervention.
The location for the workshop is the TAV construction site in Valsusa (the acronym TAV stands for “treno ad alta velocità”, which in English means “high speed train line”). Heavily contested by the No TAV movement, the construction site has been declared by the italian governement “sito d’importanza strategica” which means “strategic military zone”. The construction site appears fenced and patrolled by police and military forces.
The choice of the TAV construction site as context for the workshop is because of the following reasons:
- the presence of a red zone, prohibiting people’s circulation and action, which makes sound a means for reaching and crossing the construction site from a distance;
- the military forces and the technological surveillance protecting the construction site, which put the participants in a condition of alertness and attentive listening;
- the certainty of having an “audience” listening from inside the construction site, perceiving the sounds from outside as a sinister presence.
During the workshop, each of the participants is invited to develop an intervention and perform it around the area of the construction site.
MORE INFO HERE
ULTRAS KARAOKE – tape release
ULTRAS KARAOKE
Ultras Karaoke is the karaoke version of a series of football supporters’ chants. The lyrics of the supporters are superimposed with a midi-track of the original songs the chants are based on. The chants that appear in this work are sung by non professional singers. Their voices have been recorded in informal studio settings, far from football stadiums. The audio work is the continuation of the homonymous video project that you can find here
recordings & mixing: Davide Tidoni
design: Davide Tidoni
silkscreen: Ilana Pichon
number of copies: 50
year: 2019
orders: write to baitabaita AT riseup DOT net
ULTRAS MASHUP
Ultras Mashup consists of a series of audio tracks in which football chants’ recordings are mixed with the “original” songs they are based on. The work reflects on the musical aspects of football supporters’ culture and supporters’ practice of creation through appropriation.
The work includes football supporters’ repurposed versions of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera theme Aida, Jewish traditional song from psalm 23 Gam Gam, Marcella Bella’s 1972 Sanremo Festival success Montagne Verdi, Walt Disney’s whistling theme from Robin Hood, northern italian folk song La Mula de Parensio, Coca-Cola jingle Buy the World a Coke, Dean Martin’s signature song That’s Amore, and Righeira’s 80’s summer hit L’Estate Sta Finendo.
The football chants used in the tracks have been recorded at the stadium and on away matches as part of my involvement with the ultras group Brescia 1911 (2001 – ongoing).
recordings & mixing: Davide Tidoni
design: Davide Tidoni & Marzia Dalfini
silkscreen: l’Appât
publisher: SARU Oxford Brookes University
number of copies: 200
year: 2018
orders: write to baitabaita AT riseup DOT net
CANTA CHE NON PASSA
DOWNLOAD THE LYRICS OF THE CHANTS.
The work documents part of the repertoire of the informal choir Canta che non passa (Our Singing Will Stop It). The choir is a spontaneous group of middle aged/elderly people active in the NO TAV* movement in Valsusa, northern Italy. The choir’s repertoire consists mainly of protest songs adapted from preexisting musical sources, with new lyrics created from scratch.
I recorded the choir during one of their meetings. Rather than placing the microphone on a stand, at some distance from the group and capturing the collective dimension of the voices, I chose to move within the choir and point the microphone at the individual voices of the participants. This strategy allowed me to emphasize the imperfect nature of the choir and place emphasis on the singular/plural dimension of the group as well as the uncertain beauty of non-professional voices.
* The NO TAV movement is an Italian grass root struggle that, since the early 2000s, has opposed the construction of the second high-speed train line between Turin and Lyon. More info: brief history of the no tav movement and notav.info.
TOUCH OF THE POPS
Audio release with text and graphics.
The work documents a series of directly experienced balloon pops.
Each pop was performed using a balloon and a location.
All locations were encountered separately by chance and chosen for
their unique acoustic response.
The recordings presented in the book are intended to document the
action of popping, its situatedness, immediacy, and physicality.
recordings & mixing: Davide Tidoni
design: Davide Tidoni
silkscreen: l’Appât
hand-binded leporello with folded cover: SongYi Han
pages: 16
dimensions: 110×150x6mm
publisher: Balloon&Needle
number of copies: 50
year: 2018
orders: write to baitabaita AT riseup DOT net
TOUCH OF THE POPS – new publication out
FIRE FROM WITHIN – documentation video
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.
PERFORMANCES JUNE/JULY 2018
FORGET THE THEATER – GO TO THE STADIUM
Forget the Theater – Go to the Stadium documents all of the times that the italian word “dai” (in english “c’mon”) was used by the leaders of the ultras group BRESCIA 1911 during Brescia vs. Catania, 2015. The word “dai” is commonly used as an exhortation to urge the group to participate in the chanting.
GET SOME CHALK ON YOUR BOOTS! – EXHIBITED WORKS
Here are the works that I presented as part of the exhibition Get Some Chalk On Your Boots! – The sounding Cultures of Football, Oxford Brookes University, 15june>15july.
FORGET THE THEATER – GO TO THE STADIUM documents all of the times that the italian word “dai” (in english “c’mon”) was used by the leaders of the ultras group BRESCIA 1911 during Brescia vs. Catania, 2015. The word “dai” is commonly used as an exhortation to urge the group to participate in the chanting.
THE SOUND OF NORMALISATION is a collection of audio recordings documenting the sound culture of the ultras group Brescia 1911 in relation to modern football and the wave of repressive measures targeted at organised supporters groups. Each recording comes with a short introductory text and is presented here as a video with subtitles.
ULTRAS MASHUP consists of a series of audio tracks in which recordings of football chants are mixed with the “original” songs they are based on. The work reflects on the musical aspects of football supporters’ culture and supporters’ practice of creation through appropriation.
ULTRAS KARAOKE is the karaoke version of a series of football supporters’ chants. The lyrics of supporters are superimposed with a midi-track of the original songs the chants are based on.
THE BLOWS FROM OUTSIDE
A microphone is treated with hot wax drops and eventually set on fire…
the mic is exposed
no armor to wear
facing the world
a punch in the chest
each touch is a mark
each flame is a trace
its body a map that accumulates
the sound it makes
a desperate cry
feeling all those blows
until it dies
photo by Katerina Tamvaki
ULTRAS KARAOKE
Ultras Karaoke is the karaoke version of a series of football supporters’ chants. The lyrics of supporters are superimposed with a midi-track of the original songs the chants are based on.
THE STADIUM AS I WANT IT
The Stadium as I Want It is a 10 points critical manifesto about the spatial design of the stadium and how it influences the way supporters sing and organise themselves.
SONIC PROTEST FESTIVAL
THE SOUND OF WHITE NOISE
The Sound of White Noise is an audio piece consisting of a series of instructions that are broadcasted on the radio and performed by the radio listeners at home. The instructions are about specific body positions and movements that the listeners have to perform in relation to the sound system they are using and the space where they are. A recorded voice gives the instructions and guides the listeners through the entire duration of the piece. Each instruction invites the listeners to interact with the white noise that is diffused through the radio. The movements and gestures that the listeners perform modify the stream of white noise that is diffused in the room and the way it is perceived.
The piece has been broadcasted on the 29th of April 2015 on Deutschland Radio Kultur. A french version of the piece has been realized in 2017 (produced by ACSR, Brussels) and received a mention at the Phonurgia Nova Prix Art Sonore, Paris 2017.
GET SOME CHALK ON YOUR BOOTS
Here’s the interview I made on the occasion of the exhibition Get Some Chalk On Your Boots!. The interview briefly sums up the points laying at the core of my field research project The Sound of Normalisation investigating the sound culture of the ultras group BRESCIA 1911.
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.
NIGHT WALKS – video documentation
Night Walks was presented at Où sont les sons? Where Are Sounds?
LISTENING AS INTERVENTION
The project consist of a series of listening exercises that I have developed since 2009 as part of my research on sound, space, and the body. The final version of the first 8 exercises has been completed in 2016 with a residency at Overtoon and an exhibition at iMAL. A book publication containing the first 8 exercises + other 22 new ones is currently under development and will be published in 2023/2024.
DOWNLOAD THE FIRST 8 EXERCISES
Concept & realisation: Davide Tidoni / Production: Davide Tidoni / Graphics: Davide Tidoni & Marzia Dalfini / Editor: Brian Shabaglian.
EXAGGERATED FOOTSTEPS
design: Davide Tidoni
material: stainless steel
dimensions: 120×40x4mm
weight: 700 gr.
embossed printing: l’Appât
packaging: Tatsuya Inuikawa
number of copies: 50
year: 2018
orders: baitabaita AT riseup DOT net
NO PATENT PENDING #28, THE HAGUE
photo by Pieter Kers | Beeld.nu
A LOUDSPEAKER BLOWS UP AND FALLS APART
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.
NIGHT WALKS
Night Walks was presented at Où sont les sons? Where Are Sounds?. Centrale for Contemporary Arts, Brussels. Curated by Nicole Gingras. More about the walks.
BORDERLINE FESTIVAL
photo by Katerina Tamvaki
NIGHT WALKS
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.