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MOTHER
- pose: Crossing hands to the chest.
- movement: still.
- sound: whisper “mother” OR a synonym or a nickname of your father in your
own native language (and add few words in language or non language to her
heart).
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Audio Control Turn on Yuval's sonic flow
Audio Control

Solo exhibition

Il Bestiario della Terra – Reggio Parma Festival 2022
curated by Alessandro Gazzotti
Musei Civici Reggio Emilia, Italy – June 8 – November 27, 2022

“Anatomie Squisite” is an exhibition in close dialogue with the Civic Museums’ collections, especially the Spallanzani Collection. It features Avital’s “Cadavres Exquis,” hybrid and fantastical creatures in vivid colors, inspired by Surrealist games. These drawings lead to collaborative artworks with local artists, showcasing Avital’s relational approach to art.

“The body is the basic common denominator of humans and animals as aspects of nature, an intermediate sphere where their attributes blend together. Self-awareness is what then divides the human from the animal, recovering the latter as a symbolic element. In all of this, anatomy becomes a metaphor for the investigation and objectification of the body: it comes from the Greek ἀνατέμνω, which means cutting up, but that is only the first step in the process of discovery. Its goal is not to split apart the body’s individuality, but to turn the body into a system. “Natural bodies are not simple Beings, but highly complex structures, like clockwork made up of various gears, sealed inside a case,” wrote Lazzaro Spallanzani. The artist, like the scientist, plays with things, takes them apart and puts them back together, searching for a signifying organism that is nonetheless an object, a representation: a “poetic” body, as Avital has called it. This investigation allowed free association between the animate and inanimate; works, artifacts, everyday objects, toys, fragments, raw materials.”
Excerpt from the curatorial text by Alessandro Gazzotti, curator

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Massive Sonic Works:

/ˈmæsɪv ˈsɒnɪk wɜːrks/

Large-scale performances using collective participation to create powerful sound masses.

Yuval Avital’s “Massive Sonic Works” or “Opera di Massa Sonora” involves the creation of large-scale performances that utilize collective participation to craft a unique sound experience. These works focus on forming powerful sound masses through the collaboration of numerous performers, exploring new possibilities through sound rituals. The compositions often include graphic visual elements, written music, and easy-to-read instructions to allow interpretation by individuals without prior musical experience. This approach, sometimes involving hundreds of participants, aims to create what can be described as “crowd music.”

Some key works in Avital’s repertoire include:

– GARON (2012): An opera for 45 bass tubas do, percussions, and a crowd of performers.

– KARAGATAN (2013): A composition for 100 gongs and bamboo in the Philippines.

– REKA (2014): Commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn Festival and co-produced by the MiTo festival in Milan, involving traditional singers from unique cultures such as Tibetan, Zulu, Sardinian, Mongolian, and Samarkand traditions.

One of Avital’s significant compositions is MISE EN ABÎME, a milestone work that marks the beginning of his “Massive Sonic Works” series. Premiered in 2011, this composition involves a large ensemble of 100-200 non-musician vocalists, accordions, bass tubas, soprano, bass clarinet, percussions, didgeridoo, and conductors directing the performance in an immersive setup.

Another notable work is URLA, an immersive sonic experience with over 300 performers, showcasing diverse musical traditions in Matera, Italy. This piece combines traditional elements with modern instrumentation, theatrical actions, and innovative technological approaches, reflecting Yuval Avital’s interdisciplinary and transcultural artistic vision.

Yuval Avital’s creations blend complexity, cultural diversity, and technological innovation to create immersive and participatory sonic experiences that push the boundaries of traditional music composition and performance.