no. 23 Editorial
Moodboard

ISSN · 2183-5527

Visual Essay + Author in residence

7 Portraits

7 Portraits

João Fonte Santa

VHS, 29' By João Fonte Santa, assisted by António Caramelo The video Sete Retratos was created for the exhibition Mundo de Aventuras, curated by José Alberto Ferreira, and features 7 video portraits, …

7 Portraits

B, Y, R

Visual Essay

B, Y, R

Henrique Biatto

Água Viva

Visual Essay

Água Viva

Lander Patrick, Gonçalo Marques, José Soares

Through the longest path

Visual Essay

Through the longest path

Margarida Rodrigues (MAR)

Working with mountains is easy

Article

Working with mountains is easy

Isadora Alves

Process Of Unframability

Sound Essay

Process Of Unframability

Frantz Loriot

Drowned, in the shame of light

Visual Essay

Drowned, in the shame of light

Isabela Abate & João Castro

Workbook on the adaptation of the play The Man Outside (1947)

Visual Essay

Workbook on the adaptation of the play The Man Outside (1947)

Pedro Paiva

Sightings

Visual Essay

Sightings

Francisco Novais

HALF A STEP FROM HOME

Visual Essay

HALF A STEP FROM HOME

António Olaio

Misfits

Visual Essay

Misfits

Fabrizio Matos

Out Of Here

Sound Essay

Out Of Here

Quatroconnection (Carla Santana)

Weiße Rose

Visual Essay + Author in residence

Weiße Rose

João Fonte Santa

it was just drained, drained

Sound Essay

it was just drained, drained

André Hencleeday

Lavagem

Visual Essay

Lavagem

João Jacinto

XXX

Visual Essay + Author in residence

XXX

João Fonte Santa

The hand with no specialty

Visual Essay

The hand with no specialty

Carolina Lino

Wrong Wrong n.23

Misfits

Sound Essay 07.02.2017

Totems of Linearity

John Grzinich

Should truth about the world exist, it is bound to be non-human – Joseph Brodsky

Much of the landscape is strewn with artifacts of linearity. Inscriptions of human transmission coded and uncoded demarcate borders, electro-materialist dependency and radio-teleological communication systems. Points may be connected via visible lines of wires or arrays of invisible signals transmitted via techno-telepathic networks. Physical in every aspect, these artifacts expose the parallel worlds of modernity yet remain isolated from their surroundings, standing out as sculptural figures traversing the open land. As structures unto themselves, they can be intrusive and out of place. Should obsolescence of their intended purpose set in by circumstances entirely unrelated to their location, they will either be left to weather, occupied by vegetation or recycled for their material value.

But there are some like me, who view the totems of linearity as tell tale instruments of sonic potential, objects that 'voice' the forces of the weather world, hinting at a relation to where they stand. With tools of the trade, their voicings may be heard, recorded and passed on to open ears, signifying a purpose beyond what their creators had intended. While not all of these totems voice an audible presence, their electro-magnetic fields extend their footprint well beyond the ordinary range of the perceived or felt, into the ether of the unknowable. Documenting the often random and seemingly haphazard methods by which the totems of linearity have been constructed in relation to their context, is an attempt to give an alternate perspective highlighting the impact of infrastructural determinism on an otherwise non-linear world. It is also an exercise in the imaginary, a paradoxical projection of what might be, for someone who is conditionally trained to hear the world beyond its predominantly visual signifiers.

My documenting of these 'totems' did not start out as an intentional gathering of sounds and images but emerged as a theme over the years through countless hours of searching for residual artifacts of human structures imposed upon the landscape. As with any quest it is natural after some time to question just what it is that I am hearing in the sounds that I capture, much of them inaudible to the naked ear. Through close proximity and physical contact one becomes aware of resonances that are often more felt than heard. Induced by the forces of the weather world, the sounds ranging from harmonic whispers and rumblings to clanging echoes of industrial servitude, give far greater character than their creators had ever intended. What then might this character represent but the animate potential of the totems to take on living qualities, expressing their material being in response to the conditions in their surroundings. Such expressions go on indefinitely in an open system, giving substantial doubt as to their lone status as inert objects. Even as you read this, those pictured here will be singing, pinging and ringing in the wind, snow and rain that continually shapes the land. The silencing only comes with the eventual destruction and/or removal of the totem.

Series of 4 sound recordings and 4 photographs made between 2012 and 2016.

John Grzinich - Comm Tower Wire

John Grzinich - Iceland Fence

John Grzinich - Snow on Wire

John Grzinich - Telephone Wires

Objectophilia

João Ferro Martins

Reflections on an Introspective Path