A microphone is suspended in mid-air from the top of a building. As winds blow, the microphone begins to swing and touches the wall from which it hangs.
The work presents several actions Davide has performed with microphones. These actions reflect on the materiality of the sound devices and explore their corporeal aspects, as sounding bodies that he interacts with in unexpected ways. The actions are developed with a direct dramaturgy, each ending with the death of the microphone and consequent absence of sound. Examples of actions include burning a microphone, leaving it on the rail tracks, launching it into the air with a firework, hitting it with a slingshot, … Davide’s actions explore the ephemeral nature of corporeal existence through the presence, absence, and disappearance of sound as a metaphor for life and death.
VIDEO LIST:
Departure [02':40'']
Cut-off [01':38'']
Falling Apart [03':24'']
Until When It Dies [06':10'']
They Hear The Silence So Loud [02':19'']
Untitled [03':08'']
My Target Is Your Eyes [02':34'']
As The Sound Burns [03':38'']
Davide Tidoni: locations, actions, sound, video, editing.
Videos produced by Overtoon and Davide Tidoni.
Two microphones are used as a pair of drumstick to play the snare drum. The recordings explore the physical properties and affordances of the microphone as an object. The work is part of a series of actions that investigate the practical materiality of the microphone and violate the basic rules and principles of audio technology. More actions here.
Polish translation of Ronald Reagan’s joke about american and communist dogs. The audio was played back in loop for 1 hour on Patelnia Square, Warsaw on the 4th of july 2016 in the occasion of the NATO summit in Poland.
Here’s story about three dogs.
An American dog, a Polish dog and a Russian dog.
They are all having a visit, and the American dog was telling them how things were in his country.
He said, “You know, you bark… after you bark long enough, then somebody comes along, gives you some meat.”
And the polish dog said, “What’s meat?”
And the Russian dog says, “What’s bark?”.
Ronald Reagan – President of the United States
In the video I activate the different acoustics of an empty building by means of a pair of metal plates attached to my shoes.
A microphone moves closer and closer to a passing train and eventually gets hit. In this work, the microphone is exposed to the consequences of breaking the (safety) distance which usually separates it from the sound source.
In the video I activate the acoustics of an empty factory by hitting the wall with a stick. To visually emphasize the sound of the hit, I adopt the association: silence=black / sound=light.
A loudspeaker is positioned on the second floor inside a building.
A performer stands outside the building with a microphone in his hand.
When the performer is ready, they throw the microphone inside the building, trying to get it through the window and land it as close to the loudspeaker as possible.
When the microphone lands inside the building, it triggers a sound feedback.
The audience can split up and watch the action from either outside or inside the building.
In the video, I use my voice as a strategy that allows me to survive in a city where I feel like a stranger. Led by the acoustics of the places I encounter in my wandering, I end up silent in an empty building. My voice has the double function of making me discovering the acoustic response of the places I find, and sustaining my own presence already undermined by the clash with the metropolis.
A Balloon for Linz brings to light the acoustic response of specific locations in Linz. Together with the video, a series of exploratory walks were organized in the city of Linz. Participants were invited to pop balloons and listen to the acoustic architecture of the urban space. The project received an honorary mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2011.