INTONARUMORI
A series of artist’s talks
at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Presented by the Sound Area,
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
My Dear Balilla Pratella,
If I remember correctly, it was on a day not unlike today. Yes, it was just like this, but 100 years ago. It was March the eleventh, to be precise, 1913. Not Boston, but Milano. Still. Luigi Russolo put it all down on paper. He wrote to you:
We must break at all cost from this restrictive circle of pure
sounds and conquer the infinite variety of noise-sounds.
He called it L’arte dei Rumori, his Art of Noises. And he invented his noise-intoners, his intonarumori, to make his dream a cacophonous reality. Snorts, buzzings, bellows, grumbles, gurgles. These were among the noises he dreamt.
Now, from the other side of the century, from the other side of the sea, we join Russolo’s cause. But we know that Russolo would not have countenanced complacency. His radical revisions must perennially be revised. We still dream his dream. But the volume of our noises is, in every sense, greater. We sound the sounds of history, of economics, of politics and gender. We rattle the instruments of authority. We bang on the doors of power. We make noises.
Yours truly,
Betsey Biggs (September 30, 2013)
Christopher DeLaurenti (November 18, 2013)
Ultra Red (February 10, 2014)
Seth Cluett (March 31, 2014)
Christof Migone (April 14, 2014)
Nina Katchadourian (April 21, 2014)
All presentations: 12:30 p.m., Alfond Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. More details here.
Organized by Seth Kim-Cohen and the Sound Area at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in conjunction with Hearing Modernity.
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