Llorenç Barber. Archive of Listenings

Sound is one of the media that comes closest to ecology. The relationship between art, music and the environment has been one of the channels with the most presence in Llorenç Barber’s work. From the perception of the soundscape as a form of musical production to self-management processes, his pioneering work in sound art proposes a series of radical positions that are constantly updated. The notion of plurifocality with which the city concerts have been developing offers keys to a work of the multiple and the diverse: in these concerts, the sounds come from bell towers, from bands, or from the different possibilities that each of the cities can offer. Likewise, the listening points are multiple and varied; all of them valid.

The archive we present places special emphasis on the practice of listening. It includes the practice not only of Llorenç Barber, but also that of his many collaborators over several decades. The archive materials pass through festivals and programs such as the classic Ensems de Valencia, the Aula de Música of the University of Madrid, Paralelo Madrid or Nit’s de Aielo, as well as through their collaborations with groups such as Actum, Taller de Música Mundana, Flatus Vocis Trio, Colectivo Elenfante or his long collaboration with Montserrat Palacios. In addition to the documents in paper, the archive presents for the first time the digitization of its numerous sound collection through collaboration with the Intermedia Creations Laboratory research group of the Department of Sculpture of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

The proposal presents the idea of ​​plurifocality applied to the archive, through a new composition made from archive materials. This proposal is made by Llorenç Barber, Pedro André and Monserrat Palacios, in conversation with Lorenzo Sandoval, presenting a sonic travelogue from the digitized contents. Tono Vízcaíno also collaborates as a documentalist.