JONATHAN GARCIA LANA / TUNIPANEA
The Intimate Rhythm of Chance
28 March – 28 May 2023
Sala Rekalde presents an exhibition by Jonathan García Lana / Tunipanea (b. Belgium, 1985). The show forms part of the Barriek programme, offering a selection of work by beneficiaries of the Provincial Government of Bizkaia's grants for artistic creation.
The Intimate Rhythm of Chance is a process of investigation first begun in 2020, in which García Lana explores the peculiar possibilities of randomness in sound using mechanical and robotic constructions. He presents his research in the form of automated sound installations, sometimes with interactive parameters. Each piece has been used or built with certain particular features capable of creating different situations or soundscapes, which in turn offer a sort of reflection on the idea of the random as an expressive possibility.
As well as functioning as an installation, García Lana also explores its use as a musical instrument; on occasions, he interacts with performers who use their own instruments or media, incorporating his work into their compositions and improvisations.
www.tunipanea.com
1. Mechanical metallophone. Automaton built from parts of an old piano, adapted using digital fabrication techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting. The composition it contains comprises two intersecting lines of notes, one ascending and one descending. To this simple virtual score, García Lana applies an algorithmic filter which randomly decomposes the notes until they are completely disintegrated.
2. Percussive Study of Chance #4. This sound installation consists of a motor unit which drives a series of rotating helices with balls that strike different glass and ceramic objects. This is an open-ended work and it is recommended that visitors take some time to enjoy it unhurriedly, to fully appreciate the introspective soundscape as it develops.
3. Chord Tower. This piece explores the element of chance using a mechanism with wheels and motors that make differently-tensed wires pulsate. The wheels rotate without any relationship of speed or synchrony, meaning that the melodic output varies constantly.
4. EKHO. A musical automaton originally designed to work with voice and instrument performers. Used in numerous collaborative live performances, the automaton can detect different features of the voice in real time and transfer them to its own acoustic mechanism, thus generating a direct and at the same time unpredictable relationship between the person and the machine.