Nachhall #14
Switched On: The Dawn of Electronic Sound by Latin American Women
Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2025 · 19:00 Uhr
The editor Alejandra Cárdenas (also known under the artist name Ale Hop) will talk about the background and creation of the book and will use sound examples to make Latin American music history experienceable. Switched On is the first book dedicated exclusively to the female protagonists of Latin American electronic music. The book has been edited by independent curator, researcher and label head of Buh Records, Luis Alvarado, and experimental musician, multimedia artist and researcher Alejandra Cardenas (also known as Ale Hop). Composers and sound artists featured in this historical account include: Alicia Urreta, Beatriz Ferreyra, Elsa Justel, Eulalia Bernard, Graciela Castillo, Hilda Dianda, Ileana Pérez Velázquez, Irina Escalante Chernova, Iris Sagüesa, Jacqueline Nova, Jocy de Oliveira, Leni Alexander, Margarita Paksa, Marietta Veulens, Mónica O’Reilly Viamontes, Nelly Moretto, Oksana Linde, Patricia Belli, Renée Pietrafesa Bonnet, Rocío Sanz Quirós, Teresa Burga, Vania Dantas Leite, among others. The official history of 20th-century avant-garde electronic music has been predominantly narrated from the point of view of Anglo-American and Western European experiences and largely remained focused on its male protagonists. To destabilize this history, this editorial project presents a collection of perspectives, essays, interviews, archival photos, and work reviews centered on the early electronic music production by Latin American female creators, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Ale Hop (Alejandra Cárdenas) is a Peruvian-born artist. Cárdenas began her career in Lima’s underground music scene in the 2000s. Her work encompasses various formats such as live shows, albums, multimedia artworks and research. Her live performances merge the physical qualities of sound with raw affective states. She builds layers of sound by maneuvering an intricate repertoire of electric guitar techniques to create music of deep intensity. In the past year, she has initiated various collaborative practices, including Agua Dulce with percussionist Laura Robles, radically mutating Afro-Peruvian rhythms, and Near and Remote Activation Practices, with sound artist Tatiana Heuman, which draws inspiration from South American organology and storytelling. She has presented her work at festivals and institutions such as UNSOUND, MUTEK, Sonic Acts, CTM Festival, Taiwan C-LAB, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Somerset House Studios; and released albums on Nyege Nyege, Buh Records, Karlrecords and Superpang.
https://www.contingentsounds.com/switched-on/
Nour Sokhon: Beirut Birds
Die multidisziplinäre Künstlerin und Komponistin Nour Sokhon präsentiert mit „Beirut Birds“ ein audiovisuelles Erlebnis, das persönliche Geschichten von Migration, Vertreibung und den zyklischen Krisen im Libanon aufgreift. In einer Live-Performance verbindet sie Interviewfragmente und Objektgeräusche mit experimentellen Sounds, ergänzt durch Projektionen von Stadtbildern Beiruts und Vogelwanderungen über das Mittelmeer.
Nour Sokhon is a Lebanese artist based in Berlin, Germany. Her creative practice is centered around exploring different methods of working with artistic research including interview material, field recordings and recorded material from an organized site specific intervention. The research is then translated into sound/music compositions, performances, interactive installations and moving image work. In 2014, Nour achieved an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the American University in Dubai, and in 2017 she culminated a large scale project; a documentary entitled ‘People on Sound’, as part of her Master’s degree in Sound for the Moving Image at the Glasgow School of Art in the UK. In 2019, Nour received the Emerging Artist Prize at the Sursock Museum in Lebanon, for a moving image piece entitled ‘Revisiting: Hold Your Breath’. Nour has exhibited her artwork in Beirut, Dubai, London, Glasgow, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid, Zurich, Hastings, Utrecht, Berlin, Zagreb, Juterbog, Sellasia, Montreal, London, India, Melbourne and Soustons. She has also performed in Frankfurt, Berlin, Beirut, Athens, Hannover, Dubai, Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Zurich, Bern, and in various festivals such as the Al Quoz Arts Festival (Dubai, UAE), the Other Worlds Festival (Blackpool, UK), the Network Music Festival 2020 (online), This Is Not Lebanon 2021 (Frankfurt, Germany), Punkt Festival 2023 (Kristiansand, Norway) and Gaudeamus Festival 2023 (Utrecht, Netherlands) United in Grief 2024 (Zurich, CH), Vorspiel 2024 (Berlin, DE), Biennale d’Aix (Festival Lips #1 Deep Speech) 2024 (Aix-en-Provence, FR).
Im Rahmen des Artist in Residence Programms von kulturen in bewegung in Kooperation mit VIDC Global Dialogue.