Audio Control Turn on Yuval's sonic flow

Discover

Curve your body into a nest
Loading please wait

Scroll

Audio Control Turn on Yuval's sonic flow
Audio Control

site-specific public art project
Cultural Olympiad Milano–Cortina 2026
Valtellina, Italy: SONDRIO: Palazzo Lambertenghi, Piazza Garibaldi | TIRANO: Palazzo Foppoli | BORMIO: Museo Civico di Bormio
January 24th – March 15th, 2026
Bagni Misteriosi, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan
April 13th -26th, 2026

Mountain Echoes is a large-scale public art project by Yuval Avital, ideated and produced together with Comitato CULTURA + IMPRESA, developed through extended field research and close engagement with the alpine territory of Valtellina. Conceived as a collective and relational work, the project transforms voices, sounds, and shared practices of the mountain into contemporary art forms.

Between October and December 2025, Avital carried out an extensive sound research across the valley, recording dialects, vocal expressions, ritual sounds, working gestures, and natural ambiences. Custodians of memory, artisans, shepherds, students, associations, and citizens of different generations contributed to the creation of a living sonic archive, in which each sound is treated not as documentation, but as identity and presence.

This material gave rise to three large anthropomorphic sound sculptures, conceived as totemic figures and realized using locally produced textiles treated with resin. Inside each sculpture, layered polyphonic compositions unfold through integrated sound systems, creating immersive listening environments that merge human voices, environmental sounds, and collective memory into a shared acoustic landscape.

Mountain Echoes takes the form of a diffuse work articulated across multiple locations and communities. The project is structured as a process of restitution to the territory, returning to the public the voices and sounds that contributed to its creation.

Rather than representing the mountain as a static landscape, Mountain Echoes approaches it as a living archive shaped by relationships between people, nature, work, and time. Listening becomes an active and participatory act: a way to inhabit space and to recognize the deep connections between territory and community.

Alongside the sound sculptures, the project includes photographic series realized during the field research. These images do not document the work, but extend its perceptual field, offering a visual counterpart to the sonic dimension and revealing the human and material texture of the territory.

Through sound, sculpture, and image, Mountain Echoes proposes the mountain as voice, matter, and memory: a shared space where past and present resonate together, and where art becomes an act of listening and collective responsibility.

Close
Close

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.