EXO:ENDO — Witnessing Extraction. A dialogue with Víctor Mazón Gardoqui
Show additional material and archive for November 1st 2021’s Sonic Darts. The show visits Leipzig and meets with the multi media artist Víctor Mazón Gardoqui in a special binaural radio adaptation of his 31.2 channel composition EXO:ENDO which was on display at Zentrum für immersive Medienkunst, Musik und Technologie Leipzig -ZiMMT-.
We go in-depth about the project which was a collaboration between scientist, miners, anthropologists, historians, engineers and artists from Bolivia and Germany, that focused on the lithium and silver mines in the Potosi region of Bolivia and shared among different universities and research faculties in America using sound to witness the remains of human traces on earth. Documenting the deep anthropologic history of the area along with Hertzian pollution and hidden energies, the project questions the impact of extractivist capitalism on both the psycho-social and physical geography of two sacred Wak´as: Cerro Rico Silver Mine and Thunupa lithium salt lake.
An immersive essay on the geography of inequality, in areas where neoextractivist practices occur.
A journey from a silver mine exploited for more than 500 years to the largest -almost intact- lithium deposit in the world
Everything that is resounds …The landscape resounds; facades, halos, shadows dance across it.
Lingis, A (1998) The Imperative.
The materiality of the landscape is significant; beyond the mere physical presence and solidity of the landscape, its existence and reality.
The materiality of the landscape in constant transformation, resounds with the industrial, mining and agricultural processes, and the concomitant transformation of the lives that inhabit it.
The materiality of the landscape is heard in terms of strength, animation and perception.
Is the external material landscape a lifeless mass onto which we project meaning and value?
The hum of the environment envelops us, seduces us, oppresses us.
As soon as we open our eyes, the light, the depth of the tangible; the exterior resplendent, seductive, bleak or suffocating.
Reality weighs; we cannot be indifferent to it.
The landscape resonates; facades, cartoons, halos, shadows dance across it.
Under the sunlight the pageantry of things spreads.
The live, active, animated landscape — Silent spaces after the removal of minerals. Action happens below the surface
This project started in 2020 under the Puertos Residency program of Sonandes Experimentation and research platform of Bolivia and extended under the Sonic Matter Openlab reseach where each edition of the festival is linked to the next by a year-long trans-territorial and transdisciplinary laboratory, a platform for innovative convergences of sound exploration, scientific research and environmental studies. This 2021 is focusing on the American continent with a group of researchers from: Ecuador | Sapara Nation of Amazonian Ecuador, Canada | McGill University, Concordia University, Matralab, Brazil | LABVERDE Manaus, National Amazon Research Institute INPA, USA | Harvard University, The Deep Listening Foundation community, Black Mountain College — Museum and Arts center, Portland State University.
A collaboration between Guely Morató, Marco Antonio Flores Peca, Oscar Torrez, Jaime Mora, Hannes Walschütz, Jano Bizzotto, Felix Deufel, Sergio Millán & Víctor Mazón Gardoqui
More info on the website: https://exoendo.world
Funded by Musikfonds e.V. by means of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR recovery programme. Supported by Sonic matter Openlab, Sonandes Experimentation and production platform and ZiMMT — Zentrum für immersive Medienkunst, Musik und Technologie Leipzig.