IMMERSIVE SOUND INSTALLATION (2024)
VOCES I. EN HONOR DE JOAN TURNER JARA
Created for the exhibition Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre (Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2024), the immersive sound installation Voces I. En honor de Joan Turner Jara explores the layering of historical narrative through the memory of the encounter with The Green Table by Kurt Jooss. Through a composition in which individual memory and major events of collective history intertwine, the installation highlights the power of orality and the timeless impact of an artwork, while exploring the theatricalisation of the exhibition space.
Using testimonies of spectators and dancers from different generations and backgrounds — in Spanish, French, English and German — as its sole material, the voices, sounds and silences become actors in their own right. Each breath, timbre and intonation tells a story shaped by time, bearing the traces of a work and a unique life experience. The ghostly voices of these women and men weave a space where personal experiences — linked to the reception of the ballet and to the major conflicts of the 20th century — mingle and resonate. A faint greenish glow, reminiscent of the spotlight used in The Green Table for the solo of the character of Death, accompanies the visitor’s movement through this shifting architecture where memories converge with their moments of tension, intimacy and reflection.
By focusing on the dematerialisation of the document, Voces I immerses the visitor in a semi-darkened environment where spatial references dissolve, and where the encounter between the immateriality of the spoken word and the theatricalisation of the exhibition space creates a sensory dialogue. Here, the use of voice unfolds as a spatial choreography, shaping a sound architecture that transforms the environment into a space in perpetual motion.
Second corpus of the exhibition Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre, the installation Voces I is meant to be presented alongside the eponymous film of the exhibition and/or the mixed modular corpus of works and documents, the first of the three that compose it.
-
The installation Voces I emerges from a long creative process that began with the documentary performance An Introduction (2010), in which the digitised photographic document regained its physical body, interacting with the staged account of the artist’s research and with various audiovisual materials. This process then evolved into the exclusive use of filmed interviews as the sole material for a staged, diffracted film in the performance Débords (2012), integrating the live presence of six performers to amplify the phenomena of identification. This trajectory subsequently led to a more personal exploration, in which the audiovisual image was emptied of its visual component, retaining only its sonic dimension, thus fostering an introspective reflection on this research work in the autobiographical solo with voices (Elle) retient (2015).
The documents generated by Jooss's work, as well as those created throughout this process – some of which were assembled in the first corpus of the exhibition in Madrid – form the antechamber to the resonance of this mythical ballet. The voices of a small number of witnesses and dancers thus become the core of an immersive experience where individual memory and oral history converge, inviting the visitor to engage in a polyphonic weave of stories, memories, and resonances.
Immersive sound installation by Olga de Soto
multichannel sound, 13’42“ & 12’12“
Languages : Spanish, English, French and German
With the testimonies (in order of appearance) of: Juan Allende Blin, Françoise Dupuy, Christian Holder, Ann Hutchinson Guest, Gerd Zacher, Edith del Campo, Hanns Stein, Toer van Schayk, Joan Turner Jara, Jacqueline Challet-Haas, Jeanne Brabants, Marina Grut, Philip Lansdale, Fernando García
Voice editing
Olga de Soto and Benoît PeléSound mix
Benoît Pelé and Pierre GuffletSound spatialisation
Pierre GuffletInstallation space design
Olga de SotoAssistant installation set-up
Benjamin MuzartProduction
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid)
Niels Production (Brussels)
This immersive sound installation forms an integral part of the exhibition Reconstruction of a Danse Macabre, created by Olga de Soto at the invitation of Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, Madrid. Conceived within the framework of the Fisuras programme, the exhibition and installation stem from Olga de Soto’s research and creative project based on Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table, and were made possible thanks to the financial support of the following institutions:
A TANZFONDS ERBE project, an initiative by the German Federal Cultural FoundationCoproduction
Centre Pompidou - Les Spectacles vivants (Paris), Festival d'Automne (Paris), Tanz Im August (Berlin), Tanzquartier Wien (Viena, AT), Les Halles de Schaerbeek (Brussels), Joint Adventures/Tanzwerkstatt Europa (Munich), Culturgest (Lisbon), Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon (CCNM) in the frame of Jardin d'Europe – supported by the European Union (Montpellier, FR), Centre Chorégraphique National de Franche-Comté (Belfort), Open Latitudes (Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels · Latitudes Contemporaines, Lille; Le Manège de Mons / Maison Folie, Mons · Cialo Umysl Foundation, Warsaw · Teatro delle Moire, Milano · Sin Arts and Culture Centre, Budapest · Le Phénix Scène nationale de Valenciennes · L'Arsenic, Lausanne) – with the support of the European Union, Charleroi danse - Centre Chorégraphique de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels). With the support of the Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Direction générale de la Culture – Service de la danse, Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI), Archives Jooss / Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln (Koln).With additional support of Théâtre de Liège and Centre de développement chorégraphique d'Uzès.
Research grants
Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (FR), Aide à la recherche et au Patrimoine en Danse - Centre national de la danse (Paris) et du Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles _ Direction générale de la Culture — Service de la danse (BE)Olga de Soto is supported by Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Direction générale de la Culture – Service de la danse and is accompanied by Grand Studio (Brussels).