/krəʊk/
sound installation for frogs and toads voices
(2020-22) • sound installation • 15′
/krəʊk/
sound installation for frogs and toads voices
(2020-22) • sound installation • 15′
The choir […] encourages the viewer’s identification,
removing the separation between the stage and the audience and forming a rhythmic, sonic, and spatial immersive substrate. (Charlotte Ossicini)
/krəʊk/, in dialogue with places where, thanks to a certain acoustic quietness, one may undertake an inner listening, evokes a forgotten sonic landscape, where the multi-coloured songs of frogs and toads (animals which many cultures link to magic, to the sacred, and to transformation and rebirth) welcome the listener to a dreamlike space, bearing arcane messages. Their chorality, as it is articulated within the sonic and physical space of /krəʊk/, suggests an idea of identity which is plural and at the same time unitary, an ever-changing rhythmic swathe that immerses and absorbs listeners into a timeless ritual structure.
Often characterised and defined by their voice, frogs have often been associated to music, in /krəʊk/, the frogs’ phonè is a hymn to voice and to sound, intended as a primordial idea of music.
Conception and sound composition Agnese Banti
SETUPS
19th June 2020, Master degree in Sound Design
first study for 5 speakers in the Cloister of “G. B. Martini” Conservatory of Bologna
Thanks to: Mino Banti, Emiliano Battistini, Roberta Coltellacci, Bernard Fort, Francesco Giomi, Giada Turini
18th – 27th September 2020, Il suono in mostra / International exhibition of sound art
/krəʊk/ – giardino, for 4 speakers in the Fountain of “Del Torso” Garden, Udine
Production: Tempo Reale and Spazioersetti
Thanks to: Antonio Della Marina, Riccardo Tosin, Andrea Trona, Alessandra Zucchi
1st and 4th June 2022, ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ and Audiovisual Festival
/krəʊk/ – radici (roots/ρίζες), for 7 speakers in the Patio of Audiovisual Department of Ionian University, Corfu
Thanks to: Tazio Borgognoni, Niki Chondrogianni, Nikos Kanelakis, Theodoros Lotis, Federica Orlandini, Dimitris Savva, Giada Turini, Andrea Trona
24th and 25th June 2023, RAMI d’ORA – Orobie Residenze Artistiche
for 9 speakers in the Fountain of Castellaccio di Piateda (SO)
The genesis of the idea was thought for the ruins of an ancient greek theatre, the first study of the work was realised between the Electronic Music School of Bologna and the Music Department of the Ionian University of Corfu and it was installed in the Cloister of “G. B. Martini” Conservatory of Bologna. /krəʊk/ was installated at “Il suono in mostra – international exhibition of sound art” (Udine, 2020), “ΑΚΟΥΣΜΑΤΑ and Audiovisual Festival” for the 30th anniversary of the Electronic Music School (Corfu 2022) and “Rassegna RAMI d’ORA” (ORA, 2023).
INSIGHT
Agnese Banti, “La voce delle rane” for the finestresonore~ column (2020-2021) by ECB collective for musicaelettronica.it
The voices of frogs were collected by Agnese Banti and other composers, Theodoros Lotis, Giovanni Magaglio, Mattia Siboni, in different areas of the Po Valley (2018, 2019), on the Greek island of Corfu (2019), in the nature reserve between Greece and Macedonia, Prespes, (2019) and Gorgo del Drago in Sicily (2014). In addition, recordings were collected from Holland (Zoetermeer, 2010), California (Sherman Island, 2010), Florida (Callahan, 2017), India (Calcutta, 2013) and others.
photo © Agnese Banti