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'']
He Hears 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.
Thanks to sander, flo, FS, SNCB, a bas la maxi-prison, paolo ruaro, martino, loes@nadine, giammo, eugenio, almarosa, marzi, bam bam bam bam !!!
keyword - microphone
ALL BODIES END IN SILENCE
SINGLE STROKES
THE BLOWS FROM OUTSIDE
photo by Katerina Tamvaki
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 when it dies
ALL OF A SUDDEN
A microphone is placed on the asphalt at one side of a road.
It is slowly pulled towards the other side of the road where the audience stand.
The microphone keeps on going until it gets killed by the passing cars.
It’s like your loved one being struck on his/her way back home.
It’s like you passing away, all of the sudden…
MICROPHONE AND NAIL GUN
MICROPHONE DOWN THE CHIMNEY
BEYOND THE YELLOW LINE
A microphone is physically exposed to the consequences of breaking the distance limit that conventionally separates it from the subject of the recording. The video is a metaphor about the search for interaction and confrontation.
MAREBELLO BEACH SOUND WALK
SURVEY IN LEICESTER
How Far Can I Get

A performer rotates a microphone in the air. At each turn the microphone cable is stretched a few inches more. The performer continues this way until the microphone crashes against the wall.
The performance is a metaphor about becoming aware of one own’s limits. The impact of the microphone to the wall represents the understanding of one own’s vulnerable nature.
Video – Research Material: https://vimeo.com/114553487 (password: “nevertoofar”)
My Target is Your Eyes
photo by Luca Ghedini
A thrower equipped with a slingshot tries to hit a microphone.
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.