Ramona Ponzini

最小単位

最小単位 (2024)

44°17’33.0″N 7°30’47.5″E  (3 min. 12 sec.)

44°17’17.5″N 7°29’48.8″E  (3 min. 12 sec.)

44°11’46.3″N 7°29’50.3″E  (3 min. 12 sec.)

 

 

最小単位 explores the dialogue between nature and human culture through the fusion of the sound qualities of natural environments and traditional musical instrumentation, articulating itself at the same time as a psychophysical journey and as a trans-temporal message.

Starting from the investigation of the accordion’s constituent elements, I identified the “breath”produced by the bellows’ closing return as the instrument’s minimum sound unit and juxtaposed it with the natural “breaths” of the Orrido delle Barme and the Bosco di Palanfrè in the Vermenagna Valley. From a compositional point of view, the recordings of the bellows from the workbench of the Robilantese musician Notou Sounadour (Giuseppe Vallauri 1896-1984), together with those of accordion and concertina, are mixed with field recordings of the natural sounds collected in woods and with my voice.

The score is articulated on the basis of the geographical coordinates of the three places explored, to which three different audio tracks correspond.

In 44°17’33.0 ‘N 7°30’47.5 ’E the sounds of bellows, accordion and concertina prevail, structured according to repetitive units.

In 44°17’17.5 ‘N 7°29’48.8 ’E, on the North axis, I manipulate natural sounds, articulating them in mimetic rhythms evocative of the collected spirituality that the microcosm of the Orrido inspires, while on the East coordinate I isolate the single wave form of an accordion note, reuniting it with the flow of the fluids of the Barme.

At 44°11’46.3 ‘N 7°29’50.3 ’E the forest collapses, welcoming re-synthesised human voice and breath.

 

Ramona Ponzini

Promenade - Sound Scribbles

Promenade – Sound Scribbles (27’16”)

sound installation

2023

 

Commissioned by Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Promenade (2023) is a sound work in which I invite people to access physical and imaginary places through the qualities of sound.

In Promenade – Sound Scribbles, I establish a relationship with Sol LeWitt’s permanent installation, Panels and Tower with Colours and Scribbles, 1992. Using a multi-linear geometric vocabulary and experimenting with combinatorial rules similar to those employed by LeWitt, I weave together seven soundtracks, each matched with the monochrome fillings of the mural pictorial interventions and the central heptagonal-shaped sculpture. In a synesthetic combination, these graphic-auditory pairings make audible the tonal “frequencies” and “interference” of graphite marks on the uniform color layers. The suggested counterpoints are just some of the multiple sound-color compositions that can be generated from the developed scheme.

 

“[..] In response to the reflection on overcoming the fruition limits of the museum collection, Ponzini designed a sound overlay above the historical installations that amplifies their perceptive possibilities. An overlay capable of harmonising with the artists’work, of expressing its emotional, visual and spatial impact, while also eliminating incompatibilities and differences between the different categories of the public, making the experience accessible to the visually, but also motor and hearing impaired, thanks to the tactile sensations generated by the sound vibrations.” – Barbara Ruperti, IL GIORNALE DELL’ARTE

Read the full article in Italian here: Il Giornale dell’Arte – Tutti i suoni del Castello

 

Ramona Ponzini

Promenade - Reverse

Promenade – Reverse (8’36”)

sound installation

2023

 

Commissioned by Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Promenade (2023) is a sound work in which I invite people to access physical and imaginary places through the qualities of sound.

Establishing a relationship with the permanent installation Yurupari – Rheinsberg Room, 1984, by Lothar Baumgarten, in Promenade – Reverse I combine the gathered tracks with the recording of my voice, producing a merging of word, sound, and image. In the Falconers’ Gallery – not physically accessible to the public – Baumgarten had intervened back in 1984, overlaying cobalt blue pigment with a series of names of tropical plants and animals and affixing bird feathers to the walls. Responding to his reflection on the spasmodic tension towards encyclopedic categorization and the gap between historicized time and the mutability of artistic tools such as words and pigments – intentionally not stabilized on the wall in this case – I conduct a reverse reading of the names on the walls, enabling the visitor to access a temporal dimension where nomenclatures and classifications are deconstructed and reconstituted.

Ramona Ponzini

frogs.picus.VANNA

frogs.picus.VANNA (flat version, 19’30”)

Sound collage

2021

in “Digital Cosmos“, online exhibition, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

 

 

This work is an online iteration of the three channel sound installation frogs.picus.VANNA, commissioned by Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in 2021.

“The three-channel installation invites us to indulge in an exercise that echoes the Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku. The hoarse and intermittent call of the frog in frogs, 19’30’’, is overwritten by the subdued chirping of birds and the screeching of insects that the artist challenges us to identify in picus, 18’58’’. This walkthrough with the eyes closed is accompanied by the electronic and liquid modulations of VANNA, 19’16’’. In its palimpsestic ecology, the work feeds into sonic movements conceived as a whole challenging the frontality of a live DJ set in favor of an immersive circularity where we tune our breath to the forest.” Giulia Colletti

Listen the full sound work here: Digital Cosmos/frogs.picus.VANNA

Ramona Ponzini

Exhalation

Exhalation (18’02”)

Sound collage

(2021)

 

Painting by Alan Stefanato, Untitled (2021)

 

The piece was created upon Carico Massimos invitation to participate to On Air, a collaborative project that functions as an online-offline hub on air, atmosphere, environment, and breath.

The first thought in relating to the concept of breath was to approach it from a visual point of view, as opposed to its totally non-visual nature, in order to render a sound image that was therefore evocative.

At that time, I was working on sampling sounds and music from films and, in a broader sense, from images, by means of field recording. An unorthodox approach that overcomes the smoothness of the source device but also the cleanliness of sophisticated sound recording. Breath, therefore, came to be configured as raw, primordial matter to be sculpted and moulded.

The piece invites us to close our eyes and visualize several iconic breaths from cinema.

Ramona Ponzini

Music Without Images

Music Without Images (7’17”)

Sound collage

2020

 

Image. Sound. Sounds experienced through images. Field recordings where the “field” corresponds to the visual field. A collage, a mix of music heard through a screen, through precise images —erotic, philosophical, spiritual— sources of two-dimensional dream nourishment. These serve as a starting point to regress back to the physicality and corporeality of sound itself and life, like in a ritual.

The work on “Music Without Images” (2020) and the subsequent “Exhalation” (2021) stems from a reflection on smoothness, as the distinctive feature of contemporary aesthetics. A smoothness that, as the philosopher Byung-Chul Han writes, eliminates the contemplative distance of aesthetic judgment. In a period of intense psychological tension during the first lockdown in March 2020, a time when it seemed impossible for me to listen to music without it being filtered through screens, I internally shifted this reflection from the visual arts to sound. I have always considered sound as clay, as sculptural material to immerse myself in, to give form to.

My approach to sound is raw. The sole consumption of sounds and music from devices considered the epitome of contemporary aesthetics (Mac and iPhone) compelled me to transform them into anomalous instruments of sound creation, reclaiming imperfection as a drive towards depth, abyssal qualities, and melancholy.

Smoothness // Imperfection – Spirituality // Carnality

The images and sounds that nourished me during that period and became part of the composition perfectly embody this dichotomy.

Ramona ponzini X Salvo

Trees are columns with clouds on top

Side A: dipingere (09’09”)
Side B: guardare (09’11”)

Ramona Ponzini
field recordings, Japanese bells & wind chimes
Produced & mixed in June 2019
by Ramona Ponzini and RPM Watts
Design by Archive Appendix
Text by Luca Cerizza

Paintings by Salvo
L’autogrill, 2014, oil on canvas, 140 x 190 cm
Bar, 2015, oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm

Limited to 20 copies, numbered and signed.

Composed for “Ventiquattr’ore di luce”, Salvo’s first solo show at the Turin-based Norma Mangione Gallery, “Trees are Columns with Clouds on Top” is a direct homage to the light-oriented painting style of the late Italian Master.
Utilizing a combinations of singing and a particular use of field recordings, collected from 2004 to present in Japan and in international museum settings, Ramona Ponzini composes the two sides of the record interpreting in a musical key both the creation phase and the fruition of Salvo’s major painting “L’autogrill” (2014), fully depicted on the cover.

“At the level of composition, the process adopted by Ponzini follows the most purely conceptual character of Salvo’s work. Not only the idea of “editing” that we can find in his early photomontages, or in the lists of some of his paintings, but how much “sampling” there is in his painting, made not only of references to art history, but of practically codified elements (trees, clouds, ruins, minarets, etc.) that continually recur in many of his works.” (extract from Luca Cerizza’s accompanying text)

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST

Transparent Winter

SIDE A: Mars Appears

SIDE B: The Mountain

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, metal and wooden Japanese wind chimes
Maurizio Opalio: acoustic guitar
Roberto Opalio: mini-keyboard, bodhran, alientronics, wordless vocalizations

Recorded July 16-17, 2010, Alien Zone studio, Western Alps, Italy
Produced, engineered and mixed by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio

B&W film photos by Ramona Ponzini

LP, Blackest Rainbow, 2011 – BRR220

 

Transparent Winter follows on from the debut release on the always excellent Time-Lag label and releases on the equally great PSF, Opax and A Silent Place. Painting Petals On Planet Ghost is the trio of Ramona Ponzini with Roberto & Maurizio Opalio (aka My Cat Is An Alien). Here they return for a new full length vinyl release on Blackest Rainbow. PPOPG create some wonderfully fragile and unusual experiments that fall somewhere between folk, psychedelia and drone. Ramona Ponzini sings in Japanese as well as contributing ‘furin, metal and wooden japanese wind chimes’. These are combined with Maurizio Opalio on acoustic guitar, and Roberto Opalio on ‘mini keyboard, bodhran, alientronics, and wordless vocalizations’. The trio’s eclectic setup helps them create some truly luscious and mysterious music that is perfectly fragile, strange, distant and delicate. ‘Mars Appears’ is a hazy dream piece with layered guitars, strange electronics and Ramona’s perfectly delivered Japanese vocals drawing the listener in surrounded by a strange but perfect fitting created by the Opalio brothers musical output. ‘The Mountain’ is equally as otherworldly as the previous sides track, with swirling strings and out of this world electronics created by Roberto and Maurizio. Whilst Ramona’s vocal are almost delivered in a trance like state. A extremely beautiful record with a gorgeous organic feel to it. The record is housed in a sleeve featuring film photographs of flowers. Edition of 250 copies pressed on 140gram virgin vinyl. (Blackest Rainbow)

My Cat Is An Alien, Ramona Ponzini, Lee Ranaldo

All is lost in translation

Maurizio Opalio: electric guitar, percussion

Roberto Opalio: wordless vocals, electric guitar, space toys, alientronics

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, lyrics taken from Yosano Akiko’s poems, Japanese wind chimes and hand percussion

Lee Ranaldo: lyrics and vocals, electric guitar, bells

Recorder live October 8, 2008 at Interzona, Verona, Italy

Mastering La Mole Recording, Torino, Italy

CD, Atavistic, 2010

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST

Haru no omoi

1. Honoho no ko

Ramona Ponzini: vocals – Maurizio Opalio: acoustic guitar, antique accordion – Roberto Opalio: effects

lyrics – Yosano Akiko, taken from Midaregami, tanka no. 357

2. Sakura no hana no oto ga kikoeru

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, lyrics – Roberto Opalio: prepared toy piano

3. Sono ko hatachi

Ramona Ponzini: vocals – Maurizio Opalio: classical guitar – Roberto Opalio: mini keyboard, wordless vocals

lyrics: Yosano Akiko, taken from Midaregami, tanka no. 6

4. Yume no hanashi

Ramona Ponzini – vocals / Maurizio Opalio – elecritc guitar / Roberto Opalio

lyrics: Yosano Akiko, taken from Teihon Yosano Akiko Zenshu

5. Haru wa akebono

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, Maurizio Opalio: bell, cymbal, gong – Roberto Opalio: gong, cymbal, percussion

lyrics: Sei Shonagon, excertp from Makura no soshi

6. Akatsuki no hoshi

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, wind chimes – Maurizio Opalio: electric guitar, glockenspiel – Roberto Opalio: wordless vocals, mouth harmonica

lyrics: Yosano Akiko, excerpt taken from Teihon Yosano Akiko Zenshu

7. Chisaki yume

Ramona Ponzini: vocals, furin – Maurizio Opalio: classical guitar – Roberto Opalio: prepared toy keyboard

lyrics: Yosano Akiko, taken from Midaregami, tanka no. 399

All lyrics selected by Ramona Ponzini

Cover art – black&white film photo taken by Ramona Ponzini in Kanazawa, Japan

Mastered at La Mole Recording, Turin, Italy.
Material selected by Hideo Ikeezumi.

CD, PSF Records (JAPAN)
PSFD-190

 

“Ramona Ponzini, young vocalist of Italian PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST, marvellously gave new life to the precious soul of Japan – the soul that contemporary Japan has lost these days.” PSF Records – Tokyo

 “[..] Truly magical deeply mysterious transporting psychic soundtracks to a series of sonic dreams, expertly crafted to magnify and elevate the listening pleasure of even the most ardent psychedelic listener. A tribute to romantic Japanese poet Yosano Akiko, and essential listening for all of us. Just amazing” – George Parson, editor, DREAM MAGAZINE (USA)

 “[..] I doubt you’ll hear a more beautiful, tranquil and enchanted record this year – really you’ve just cant help but fall in it’s sonic warmth and lushness and drift off” – Roger Batty, MUSIQUE MACHINE (UK)

“[..] As in traditional Japanese music, much is made of the power of the silence, the resonance of decaying tones, and the weight of the suspenseful interval. Listening to Ponzini, in my minds eye I see the heroine of the first chapter of the 1966 Japanese compendium horror film ‘Kwaidan’ – the supernatural “woman with the long black hair” as she extracts her revenge against the archetypal unreliable husband. From the opening [track] to the closing [one], where accordion drones leave inedible tracks in the mind, not a note or instrumental choice seems anything other than deeply considered and transcendentally placed.” – Tony Dale, TERRASCOPE (UK)

Painting Petals On Planet Ghost

Fallen camellias

Ramona Ponzini – vocals, Japanese bells & wind chimes
Maurizio Opalio – acoustic & electric guitars, glockenspiel, antique accordion
Roberto Opalio – mini-keyboard, mouth harmonica, field recordings

Recorded Fall 2006
Mixed in Winter 2007 by Maurizio & Roberto Opalio at Space Studio, Torino, Italy
Produced by Roberto Opalio
Lyrics selected by Ramona Ponzini, taken from Yosano Akiko’s poems

Cover – polaroid photo by Ramona Ponzini

CD, A Silent Place, 2008
ASP35

 

Second full-lenght album from Italy’s Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, aka brothers Maurizio & Roberto Opalio (My Cat Is An Alien) and vocalist Ramona Ponzini (also involved in the duo Praxinoscope, as well as a new project with Z’ev). ‘Fallen Camellias’ is a tribute to one of the greatest poetess ever, Japanese Yosano Akiko, whose work in literature in the early 1900’s is considered as manifesto of the Japanese Romanticism. Imagine a Vashti Bunyan or a early Marianne Faithful singing sweet melodies in Japanese language, and you can have an idea of the musical and poetical universe of Painting Petals On Planet Ghost. Here Ramona Ponzini’s singing comes from the use of Akiko’s selected original poems in Japanese along with Ponzini’s own typical soft and enchanting wordless vocals style, a out of time muse-like chant hypnotizing the ears and the minds of the listeners. The songs of ‘Fallen Camellias’ are built on acoustic guitar melodies composed by Maurizio Opalio, and are made of the same pure, melancholic essentiality of the legendary Nick Drake; while, after contributing arrangements of the most ecstatic nature, the other brother Roberto Opalio has played the role of producer of the whole album, searching for not only an aesthetic, but especially an emotional ideal of perfection. In the heart of winter covered by snow, let ‘Fallen Camellias’ be your warm blanket, as well as the promise of a new future spring. Here’s a special Painting Petals On Planet Ghost’s dedication: ‘For those who drink the wine of love springtime is forever’. (A Silent Place)

 

Ramona Ponzini & Z'ev

ANKOKU

1: I Stared into the Dark
2: My Nose is Bleeding. I Shed Tears
3: I Lose Consciousness
4: I Lost Faith in Mankind
5: I Lost the Cosmos

Ramona Ponzini: voice & lyrics, Japanese wind chimes, bells and wooden percussions

Z’EV: percussions

Rendering and recoding in Peckham, England; August-September 2006

Photography by Ramona Ponzini taken in Kanazawa, Japan, August 2004

A Silent Place, 2008 – ASP32

 

Ramona’s personal touch is certainly her own particular Japanese chant, together with the use of traditional percussions, bells and cymbals from Japan. Z’EV has been enchanted by all those elements (listening to Praxinoscope), asking to Ramona for this cooperation. This is the result of this “long-distance encounter”. ANKOKU is a Japanese word which means “deep darkness”. For this debut Ramona’s voice and percussions has been registered by My Cat is an Alien in their mysterious studio, placed somewhere in Western Alps, adding some field recordings. Recordings has then been sent to Z’EV who has processed them with some of his typical percussions. Z’EV deconstruct the sweetness of Ramona’s chants, enfolding the pieces with a darker atmosphere. We have an obscure 5 tracks album, structured on charming vocal melodies moving out from a “haunted house”. (A Silent Place)

“Ankoku (“oscurità profonda”) è il risultato dell’incontro tra Ramona Ponzini e Z’ev, nato con l’omonimo album del 2007. Z’ev, al secolo Stefan J. Weisser, è il leggendario artista americano considerato tra i pionieri della scena industrial. Si dedica alla sperimentazione noise sulle percussioni, e collabora con artisti del calibro di Glenn Branca, Keiji Haino e membri del Fluxus. Artista a tutto tondo, si muove dalla performance art all’arte multimediale; il suo lavoro è influenzato dalla Kabbalah e dallo studio delle musiche primitive africane ed indonesiane. Ramona Ponzini, da anni collaboratrice dei My Cat Is An Alien, nel 2004 fonda con loro il progetto Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, in cui il proprio inconfondibile canto e recitato in giapponese unito alla ricerca di testi letterari nipponici da trasporre in musica le ha valso l’approdo alla prestigiosa etichetta giapponese PSF. Negli ultimi anni collabora con artisti quali Michael Morley (Dead C), Jackie-O Motherfucker e Lee Ranaldo dei Sonic Youth, col quale nel 2010 pubblica il disco “All Is Lost In Translation”. Il progetto Ankoku si regge sul dualismo perfettamente risolto tra vocalità ed elettronica. Il suono si lascia così guidare da costruzioni fluide, leggermente polverose, i cui cardini restano a volte invisibili, pur poggiando su solide basi […]” (Connessomagazine)

 

Michael Morley / My Cat Is An Alien / Ramona Ponzini / Lee Ranaldo

Live @Sensational Fix

SIDE A:

‘Live @Sensational Fix’ (Michael Morley, My Cat Is An Alien, Ramona Ponzini, Lee Ranaldo)

SIDE B:

‘Blue Ether’ (Roberto Opalio)

‘Gate the Grand Century’ (Michael Morley)

‘Verona, Interzone’ (Lee Ranaldo, Ramona Ponzini)

‘Passo Galambra’ (Maurizio Opalio)

‘Hi no tori – Firebird’ (Ramona Ponzini, Roberto Opalio)

LP, Starlight Furniture Co., 2008

 

On June 17, 2008, the exhibition Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix opened at LiFE in Saint-Nazaire, France, with a focus on their multi-disciplinary activities since 1981–collaborations with visual artists, filmmakers, designers, and musicians, as well as other works selected by the band. As part of the exhibition project, My Cat Is An Alien performed on stage with their long-time collaborator Ramona Ponzini (Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, Black Magic Disco, Z’ev) singing Japanese, Michael Morley of New Zealand’s free noise band Dead C, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. As a non-programmed live act, My Cat Is An Alien were supplied with two guitars from Sonic Youth’s memorabilia wall of old guitars. No MCIAA show would be complete without sounds and beams generated by space toy guns, which they liberated from a local vintage toys warehouse (including a toy microphone for Roberto’s vocals). Exhibition curator Roland Groenenboom recalls: “Michael Morley joined My Cat Is An Alien and Ramona Ponzini on stage for an improv piece. They were already way into developing [it] when, to their surprise, Lee Ranaldo picked up the guitar that Maurizio had left lying on stage when he moved on to playing percussion, [which only] made the already phenomenal sonic achievement even denser.” Stills from the live footage shot by Groenenboom appear on the color insert. During the performance, Roberto shot photos with a Polaroid camera supplied by LiFE’s director Christophe Wavelet – what Opalio entitles “The Sensational Fix trilogy” – which are front and back cover and labels of this LP. Side B features a collection of solo pieces by each of the five members of this extemporaneous ensemble. The perfect compendium to the unicity of this historical document. (Starlight Furniture Company/Midheaven)

Black Magic Disco

Black Magic Disco are: Maurizio Opalio, Roberto Opalio, Ramona Ponzini, Tom Greenwood

Recorded live throughout Europe, May 2005
Mastered at La Mole Recording, Torino, Italy

CD, Important Records 2007 – imprec148

 

Black Magic Disco is the new all-star band featuring Tom Greenwood, Maurizio & Roberto Opalio, and Ramona Ponzini. The project was borne out of an idea had by Tom Greenwood, leader of the avant-folk-blues ensemble Jackie-O Motherfucker, who invited Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka the Italian improv duo My Cat Is An Alien, and their close collaborator Ramona Ponzini (also involved with the two brothers in the projects named Painting Petals On Planet Ghost and Praxinoscope, as well as in the new collaboration with Z’ev) to perform with him for two months of touring throughout all Europe in May/June 2005. As one can imagine, the result was killer. The music which came out of the live performances was totally explosive, combining Ramona’s Japanese vocals & hypnotic chimes with Greenwood’s psych-blues guitar attitude & wild turntablism, over MCIAA’s alien cosmic flux of electric guitars, space toys & percussion, creating a still unheard of mixture of sounds unifying archaic & post-modern, western & eastern, sky & earth.This debut CD represents a unique chance to experience almost 80 minutes of that pure and magical live action, divided in four long tracks taken from the original live recordings. Black Magic Disco’s logo comes from the pencil of Roberto Opalio. The gatefold jacket CD artwork, curated by MCIAA contains some band photos taken during the live performances included in the record. (Important Records)

“Collaboration between Roberto & Maurizio Opalio (My Cat is an Alien), Ramona Ponzini (Painting Petals on Planet Ghost / Praxinoscope) and Tom Greenwood (JoMF) is one of the finest things any of them have been involved in. This is a fantastic piece of cosmic improv with so many elements merging to create something magical: the Opalio’s space-bound electronics, percussion and guitar-manipulation, Ramona’s Japanese vocal whispers and bells and Tom Greenwood switching between psych guitar and slipping world music samples into the murky sound with dramatic effect. Highly recommended.” – BOA MELODY BAR (UK)

 

Painting Petals On Planet Ghost

Haru

1. Sakura no hana no oto ga kikoeru

2. Haru no hi ni

3. Harusame no furu wa namida ka

4. Haru wa akebono

5. Sakurabana

Recorded in winter 2004, Western Alps, Piedmont, Italy
Produced by Roberto Opalio

Cover art – drawing by Ramona Ponzini

LP/CD, Time-Lag Records, Maine, USA, 2005
TIME-LAG 030

 

Debut recording from Italy’s Opalio brothers (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini. An esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism, and emotion. Each track recorded at a different mystical location in the western alps, and centered around Ramona’s beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional Japanese. Maurizio & Roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. The whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. Silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time… while the My Cat Is An Alien moniker might leave some folks scratching their heads, here the Painting Petals On Planet Ghost name nails it: fragile, beautiful, cosmically isolationist, and totally spooked…” (Time-Lag)

“Painting Petals On Planet Ghost is a new project featuring space feline brothers, Maurizio & Roberto Opalio, and their longtime partner-in-crime, Ramona Ponzini. Ponzini also appeared on a duo album with Roberto last year, Praxinoscope. With that in mind, don’t expect this to sound like My Cat is an Alien with an extra collaborator. No, Painting Petals on Planet Ghost traverses new ground, staying away from the extended splendid cosmic explorations that MCIAA have become known for. Make no mistake about it, Ponzini is the shining star here. Her tentative, beautiful voice is like a beacon leading the brothers, like moths to a lamp, toward their destiny. Unless you’re fluent in Japanese, you’re not likely to have any idea what Ponzini is singing. As she recites various Japanese poems, the Opalio brothers paint an aural backdrop of loneliness and desolation. These songs are like the last will and testament of someone stranded in the middle of nowhere. This is their message in a bottle. Most haunting is “Haru No Hi Ni.” The Opalio’s solemn acoustic guitar plucks reek of desperation. Hearing it over and over again, I feel like someone is ripping my heart from my chest. Ponzini’s voice floats above the surface, doing its best to stay on top of the wreckage. Each note is like a tiny dagger filled with the worst kind of poison. Simplicity is the best weapon here, and the trio absolutely nails it. This is one of the year’s best songs, hands down. Elsewhere on this record, the backing instrumentation is even more minimal, but still works. The opener, “Sakura No Hana No Oto Ga Kikoeru” features little more than the gentle clanging of chromatic percussion underneath Ponzini’s incantations. And at the beginning of the closing piece, “Sakurabana” the trio returns to this format. As it moves forward, the brothers add melancholy drones with (what I think is) an antique accordian. The dichotomy of this and the percussion at the beginning only adds to the longing in the piece. It settles itself right into your bones. Painting Petals on Planet Ghost shows the Opalio brothers in top form. The addition of Ramona Ponzini adds an entirely new dimension to their sonic attack. The subtleties of this record are what make it so great. Well, that and the fact that Ponzini’s vocals are completely mesmerizing. Add to that the typically beautiful Time-Lag packaging, and you’ve got something essential on your hands. I can only hope that this project will be back with more sometime down the road. Painting Petals on Planet Ghost debut is absolute magic.” – BRAD ROSE, FOXY DIGITALIS

 

Discography

As Ramona Ponzini:

  • Ramona Ponzini x Salvo, Trees are columns with clouds on top, LP (Norma Mangione Gallery/YokiKotoKiku Records, 2019)
  • Ramona Ponzini / The Boys and Kifer, Yume no naka e, in Where is The Boys and Kifer? (2018) 
  • My Cat Is An Alien, Ramona Ponzini, Lee Ranaldo – All Is Lost In Translation, CD (Atavistic, 2010)
  • Michael Morley / My Cat Is An Alien / Ramona Ponzini / Lee Ranaldo – Live @Sensational Fix, LP (Starlight Furniture Co., 2008) 
  • Ramona Ponzini & Z’ev, ANKOKU, CD (A silent place, 2008) 
  • Ramona Ponzini & Z’ev, 7M24S, in Post-Asiatic: Lost War Dream Music, CD (URCK Records, 2007)

As Painting Petals On Planet Ghost (Ramona Ponzini, Maurizio Opalio, Roberto Opalio):

  • 3x 1-minute track on V/A “Signalvoid” memory stick / DL Comp (2012 / ATTN: Magazine) 
  • Transparent Winter CD (expanded edition) (2012 / Silentes / Seven Solar Metals) 
  • Transparent Winter LP (2011 / Blackest Rainbow)
  • Haru No Omoi CD (PSF Japan, 2009) 
  • “Haru no kuni” on Dream Magazine #9 CD Comp + Magazine (Dream Magazine, 2009) 
  • “I lose consciousness” (split with Mykel Boyd) 7inch (Somnimage, 2008)
  • Fallen Camellias CD (A Silent Place, 2008) 
  • Fallen Camellias 1-sided 5x10inch lathe cut ART Box (Opax Records, 2008) 
  • Oounabara C20 cassette (Opax Records, 2006)
  • Oounabara 1-sided lathe cut ART-LP + DVD (Opax Records, 2006) 
  • “Oceano” on Red Gold C20 Cassette Comp. (Gold Soundz, 2006)
  • Haru LP / CD (Time-Lag Records, 2005 / 2007)

As Praxinoscope (Ramona Ponzini & Roberto Opalio):

  • Inward Eye, LP (Lost Treasure Of The Underworld Records, 2012) 
  • 3x 1-minute track on V/A “Signalvoid” memory stick / DL Comp (2012 / ATTN: Magazine)
  • For the tears of the Land_Prayers from the outer space 2 CD split MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / PRAXINOSCOPE (2011 / Elliptical Noise) 
  • For the tears of the Land_Prayers from the outer space – Vol.2 CD (2009 /Elliptical Noise)
  • For the tears of the Land_Prayers from the outer space 2xLP split MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / PRAXINOSCOPE (2009 / Important Records) 
  • Untitled #6 1-sided C20 cassette (Opax Tapes, 2008) 
  • Epocsonixarp LP / CD-r (Opax Records, 2006) 
  • s/t Picture Disc LP (A Silent Place, 2006) 
  • s/t CD-r (Opax Records, 2005)

As BLACK MAGIC DISCO (Ramona Ponzini, Tom Greenwood, Maurizio and Roberto Opalio):

  • s/t CD (2007 / Important Records)
  • s/t 2xLP (2007 / A Silent Place)

Biography

Ramona Ponzini is sound artist, curator and japanologist. Her debut dates back to 2005 with the project Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, focused on Japanese poetry as a privileged source of musicable lyrics, which landed on PSF Records, Japan’s cult label of artists such as Keiji Haino and Kaoru Abe. Over the years, Ponzini has collaborated with prominent figures such as Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Tom Greenwood of Jackie-O Motherfucker, and with industrial percussionist Z’ev, with whom she publishes the album Ankoku.

Her solo project, developed since 2016 and with which she performs in various festivals and institutions, consists of sound collages and unusual DJ sets characterized by the use of vinyls, field recordings, Japanese bells and wind chimes, contaminated by a bare singing in Japanese language, a signature style that has always distinguished her live acts.

In 2016 she founded, together with curator Matteo Mottin, Treti Galaxie, a contemporary art project that organizes exhibitions of young emerging artists.

In 2018 she was resident dj at OGR in Turin during the exhibition Dancing is what we make of falling, curated by Samuele Piazza and Valentina Lacinio.


In 2019 she realised “Trees are columns with clouds on top”, a vinyl and a sound performance dedicated to master Italian painter Salvo, presented by Norma Mangione Gallery and during the exhibition Autoritratto come Salvo at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (2022).


frogs.picus.VANNA (2021) is a three-channel installation commissioned by the Castello di Rivoli – Museum of Contemporary Art.


Her latest sound performance, Oroshi・Asobi・Okuri, inspired by the tripartite division peculiar to traditional Japanese festivals, was presented at OGR in Turin as part of the exhibition *mutating bodies, imploding stars* curated by Samuele Piazza.


Ramona Ponzini’s practice is inscribed in a hybrid territory: techniques from both visual and literary arts, such as collage or Burroughsian cut-up, are combined with sound experimentations and improvisation in a noise and jazz style. At the compositional level, the process adopted by Ponzini follows a purely conceptual matrix, crossing the idea of “editing” and “sampling” of coded and reprocessed elements through the use of loop machines and both digital and analog effects. They are “d’apres sonori” that draw on poetry, music and landscape, captured through the technique of field recording.


Website Credits: Siliqoon Agency

Live Acts &

Exhibitions


  • 7 December 2024 – 4 May 2025 | TERRENO | MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo | L’Aquila, Italy

  • 31 October 2024 – 29 June 2025 | Walking Mountains | Museo Nazionale della Montagna | Turin, Italy

  • 4 October 2024 | with Zoomachia Group | Festival Of Endless Gratitude, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • 27 – 28 – 29 September 2024 | Living Room – Back to the mountains | Cuneo, Italy

  • 1 June 2024 | “Watashi wa Anjuhimeko dearu” | with Ito Hiromi | MAO Museum of Oriental Art, Turin, Italy

  • 9 March – 27 April 2024 | MATERIA SONORA | Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Madrid

  • 5 December 2023 – 1 April 2024 | The Sounds of the World | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

  • 10 September 2023 | live at ‘Costanza – La città amplificata’ Sound Festival | Villa Costanza, Scandicci (FI), Italy

  • 6 September 2023: OROSHI・ASOBI・OKURI | in *mutating bodies, imploding stars*, curated by Samuele Piazza | OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 8 June 2023: A piano from shoulder to wrist | FuturDome, Milan, Italy

  • 22 October 2022: A piano from shoulder to wrist #5.47 | TOWNER Eastbourne, Eastbourne, United Kingdom

  • 24 February 2022: Trees are Columns with Clouds on Top | MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome

  • 11 December 2021: sound performance in dialogue with Giuliana Rosso’s “Till what we speculate has been” for the 17th Edition of Giornata del Contemporaneo | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

  • 2 December 2021: frogs.picus.VANNA, sound installation for ‘Green was the forest drenched
    with shadows’, curated by Giulia Colletti and Matteo Mottin, Almanac, Turin, Italy


  • 27 October 2021: frogs.picus.VANNA, sound installation for ‘Magic Electric Bus’ | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

  • 4 November 2021: A piano from shoulder to wrist, sound performance for Artissima Fair 2021, Turin, Italy

  • 25 September 2021: frogs.picus.VANNA, sound installation for Magic Electric Bus | Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

  • 21 February 2020: sound performance in dialogue with Hannah Black’s work, Dancing is what we make of falling 2 | MY BODIES, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • Varvara Festival, with RPM Watts, 23 November 2019, Bunker, Turin, Italy

  • Ramona Ponzini x Salvo, Trees are columns with clouds on top, Saturday, 2 November 2019, Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin, Italy

  • Jazz is dead! Festival, Sunday, 26 May 2019, Turin, Italy

  • Where is the boys and kifer? Part II, 17 July, 2019, Brera Academy, Milan, Italy

  • Where is the boys and kifer? Part I, 14 November 2018, Marselleria, Milan, Italy

  • It raises and spreads in the air, Ramona Ponzini plays Paola Anziché, 19 september 2018, Bunker, Turin, Italy

  • 13 September 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Tracey Moffatt’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 21 September 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Jacolby Satterwhite’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 5 October 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Roee Rosen and Goldschmied & Chiari’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 12 October 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Loretta Fahrenholz’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 15 October 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Wu Tsang’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • 19 October 2018: sound performance in dialogue with Hardeep Pandhal and Sonya Boyce’s work, DANCING IS WHAT WE MAKE OF FALLING, curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza, OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy

  • Teatrum Botanicum, Saturday 17 September 2016, PAV, Turin, Italy

  • Varvara Festival, 14 May 2016, Superbudda, Turin, Italy

  • Nov 24-25, 2011: two days residency @London Cafe Oto: MY CAT IS AN ALIEN + PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST

  • Nov 23 2011: special broadcast @London RESONANCE 104.4 FM : MY CAT IS AN ALIEN / RAMONA PONZINI / KEN HOLLINGS in ‘Ghost Blood Spectrum’ a live mind clash collaborative performance, a new form of spontaneous radio theater event involving music, sound poetry, a multi-layered collision of texts and vocals in different languages melt with alien sounds

  • Ankoku Live with Z’ev, All Frontiers Festival, 27 September 2010, Gradisca d’Isonzo, Italy

  • Ankoku Live with Z’ev, Hundebiss Night, July 2010, Milan, Italy

  • Live with Lee Ranaldo and My Cat Is An Alien, INTERZONA, 8 October 2008, Verona, Italy

  • Live at Sonic Youth etc: Sensational Fix, with Lee Ranaldo, Michael Morley, My Cat Is An Alien, June 17 2008, LiFE, Saint Nazaire, France

  • Black Magic Disco European Tour, May/June 2005


NEWS

November 15, 2024

New commission for MAXXI L’Aquila

I am thrilled and honored to announce my participation in Terreno, a group show hosted at MAXXI L’Aquila and curated by Lisa Andreani.

For the occasion, I was commissioned a new sound installation.

More details soon!

October 30, 2024

Delightful Horrors (2024) for Walking Mountains

I am pleased to announce my participation in the group show Walking Mountains at the National Mountain Museum in Turin. For the occasion, I have created a new sound collage titled Delightful Horrors (Never Look at the Sun).

The exhibition is curated by Andrea Lerda with Hamish Fulton and Michael Höpfner.

October 3, 2024

With ZOOMACHIA GROUP at FOEG

Together with Matteo Martino I joined ZOOMACHIA GROUP, a music ensemble created by Francesco Cavaliere in order to rearrange, with multiple voices, gestures and visual elements, the ”Zoomachia Disc” music fable — a fable written by Cavaliere about a scribe ant, a prophet cricket and a mummified mantis.

Festival of Endless Gratitude (FOEG) assembles every year a diverse array of musicians and artists who seek to push the boundaries of contemporary music. The festival spotlights innovative, experimental and emerging sounds as well as overlooked traditions and genres, celebrating the richness of musical expression in all its forms.

“[..] the Zoomachia group’s setup seemed to take everyone by surprise. Copies of the English version of the script were scattered on the floor, inviting the audience to sit down and focus on the three microphones in the center of the room. Francesco Cavaliere’s musical fable starring a mantis, a scribe ant and a ventriloquist cricket came to life with the help of Matteo Martino and Ramona Ponzini, demonstrating the possibilities of spoken word performance combined with sound effects and electroacoustic composition. Probably the most unexpected performance of the festival, it had us invested thanks to the performers’ dedication to their roles, perfect timing, and expressive rolling of the r’s in Italian.” Ivna Franc – PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE

Read the full article about the festival on Passive/Aggressive.

September 27, 2024

My new sound work 最小単位 for Living Room 2024

I was invited by art.ur to participate in ‘Living Room’ artist residency, during which i explored the Vermenagna Valley. The result of that exploration is a new sound work, 最小単位.

The work explores the dialogue between mountainous nature and human culture through the fusion of the sonic qualities of natural environments and traditional musical instrumentation, simultaneously unfolding as both a physical and sonic journey and as a trans-temporal message.

June 3, 2024

“Watashi wa Anjuhimeko dearu” | pictures of the performance with Ito Hiromi at MAO, Turin

Some pictures of the performance “Watashi wa Anjuhimeko dearu” I made together with great poet Ito Hiromi last Saturday, June 1st at MAO – Museum of Oriental Art, Turin.

Special thanks to MAO Director Davide Quadrio, Prof. Daniela Moro and Suzuki Mayumi, Department of Humanities of University of Turin, Prof. Caterina Mazza of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Pictures by Isabella Castellano for MAO, Turin

May 22, 2024

“Watashi wa Anjuhimeko dearu” with Ito Hiromi at MAO Turin

On Saturday, June 1st at 4pm, I’ll perform in dialogue with great poet Ito Hiromi at MAO – Museum of Oriental Art, Turin.

“Watashi wa Anjuhimeko dearu” (I am Anjuhimeko) is a text by Ito Hiromi inspired by the legend of Anju, the deity of Mount Iwaki, narrated in the 1930s by a shamaness. Through an intense reading of the poetry, embodying the voice of the spirit during possession, Itō becomes the spokesperson for the psychological injuries experienced by Anjuhimeko, the young protagonist.

The performance addresses complex themes such as trauma and abuse with the aim of reconstructing the voices of women relegated to the margins of historical and cultural memory throughout the centuries.

My intervention consists of a double translation operation, both vocal and musical: while the poet’s words are rendered in Italian, the atmospheres of the poem are conveyed through an original sound performance.

March 9, 2024

With Exhalation (2021) at the Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid

I am pleased to announce my participation in MATERIA SONORA, a group exhibition dedicated to Italian sound art organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid.

Curated by Sonro, MATERIA SONORA explores sound art through the work of Italian artists active in the last fifteen years, belonging to different generations, placing side by side names represented by historical galleries and independent paths, thus tracing a first and significant reconnaissance of a very active but hitherto unformalised Italian scene.

For the occasion I converted the work Exhalation (2021) into an ambient sound installation.

The documentary video of the exhibition can be viewed on RaiCultura.

 

 

December 8, 2023

“Promenade” now at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

I’m happy and honored to announce the release of my new sound work, titled Promenade, a new commission from Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea curated by Giulia Colletti.

Establishing a dialogue with Sol Lewitt’s and Lothar Baumgarten’s permanent installations on the first and second floors of the Museum, I propose a reflection of the notion of accessibility by tracing the sounds of Falconeri’s Room, the Nymphaeum Grotto, the ancient tank and the medieval well, which are otherwise out of visitor’s reach.

The project is implemented thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and presented within the frame of the exhibition “The Sounds of the World” curated by Marianna Vecellio.

September 6, 2023

OROSHI・ASOBI・OKURI | Pictures of the performance at OGR, Turin

Presented within the frame of the exhibition *mutating bodies, imploding stars* curated by Samuele Piazza at OGR Turin, OROSHI ・ASOBI ・OKURI is a live performance inspired by the tripartite division peculiar to traditional Japanese festivals. It manifests as a modern shamanic sonic ritual, rooted in the Japanese myth of the Celestial Cave.

Crafted through the use of voice, percussions and vinyls, the live act embraces repetition as a ritualistic action, to create a community that shares a deep kind of “feeling” and employs lingering as a transformative tool, reawakening our intensity of perception.

Pictures by Giorgio Perottino for OGR

 

July 30, 2023

Exhalation (2021) online on The Shed

Exhalation (2021) is now online on “The Shed” within the frame of The Weird Reader. Thanks to Lisa Andreani, Michelangelo Miccolis and nick von kleist

“My thought, in relating to the concept of breath, was to approach it from a visual point of view, opposing its totally non-visual nature, to then render a sonic impression that could then evoke a mental image.

At that time, I was working on sampling sounds and music from films and, in a broader sense, from images, by means of field recording. An unorthodox approach that overcomes the smoothness of the source device, but also the cleanliness of sophisticated sound recording. Breath, therefore, came to be configured as raw, primordial matter to be sculpted and moulded.”

 

June 9, 2023

Exhalation (2021) featured in The Weird Reader at Shedhalle, Zurich

Glad that my work Exhalation (2021) is featured in The Weird Reader, curated by Michelangelo Miccolis, produced and moderated by nick von kleist, and edited by amazing Lisa Andreani at Shedhalle, Zurich, within the frame of Protozone11: it’s weird, a multi-format project developing as an experiment in exhibition making, performance presentation and educational exchange.

June 8, 2023

A piano from shoulder to wrist at FuturDome

On June 8, 2023, h.8pm, I’ll perform A piano from shoulder to wrist at FuturDome.

A piano from shoulder to wrist is a sound collage inspired by the need for hybridization and contamination between disciplines, on the urgency of musical expression even where music does not seem possible. A sound meditation in the making, always the same but always different, rooted in the practice of Om Dhyanam.

Previously shown at Artissima (2021) and Towner Eastbourne (2022), it is presented at FuturDome in an original version.

May 3, 2023

My article on The Wire

Honoured to have contributed to the May issue of The Wire magazine with my review of Massimo Bartolini’s exhibition Hagoromo, curated by Luca Cerizza with Elena Magini at Centro Luigi Pecci per l’Arte Contemporanea, Prato, Italy.

October 23, 2022

A piano from shoulder to wrist #5.47 | Pictures of the performance at TOWNER Eastbourne

Some pictures taken during my sound performance at TOWNER Eastbourne on October 22.

Many thanks to Noelle Collins, Emily Medd, Suzi Burrows and Matteo Mottin.

pic 1 by James Bellorini. Courtesy Towner Eastbourne.

pic 2-5 by Matteo Mottin

October 15, 2022

frogs.picus.VANNA on TOWNER Eastbourne website

For the duration of Brewers Towner International (15 October 2022 to 22 January 2023) you can listen to my sound work frogs.picus.VANNA (2021) on TOWNER Eastbourne website !

Listen here

September 10, 2022

Live at TOWNER Eastbourne

Thrilled to announce I’ve been invited to perform live at TOWNER Eastbourne!

On October 24 I’ll present a new version of the performance A piano from should to wrist in the context of Brewers Towner International exhibition.

Many thanks to curator Noelle Collins.

February 24, 2022

Trees are columns with clouds on top | Pictures of the performance at MACRO

Some pictures taken during my performance Trees are columns with clouds on top at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.

February 17, 2022

Trees are Columns with Clouds on Top at MACRO

In coordination with the exhibition Autoritratto come Salvo on view at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, I will present a sound performance entirely dedicated to Salvo.

The work traces back through Salvo’s entire oeuvre from an aural standpoint, from the early conceptual works to the impressions of his travel in Orient. It includes a selection of music he loved, based on research of artist’s archives and conversations with his family.

The live action sets out to create a soundtrack for the artist’s entire career, as well as a tribute to his human figure in private life.

The performance will take place in the POLYPHONY room.

24 February 2022, 7pm

December 16, 2021

Dispatch #14 for MACRO

In the frame of the show Autoritratto come Salvo, I realized the new episode of MACRO’s Dispatch. The episode is entirely dedicated to Salvo and is a collage of:

1. Franco Battiato, Di passaggio, from L’imboscata, PolyGram, 1996 

2. Salvo, 40 nomi, Gravestone, 47,24 x 18,11 in, Private collection, 1971 

3. Salvo, Io sono Salvo, in Salvo – Sette incisioni e sette poesie, Marco Noire edition, 1983 

4. Gian Marco Montesano, …Il catalogo è questo! (Aria del catalogo), in Salvo-Landscapes, Trento, Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, 2000 

5. Aleksandr Blok, Notte, strada, lampione, farmacia…, 1912

You can listen to it here: MACRO Dispatch #14, on Spreaker, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and Spotify

Special thanks to Luca Lo Pinto, Lisa Andreani, Archivio Salvo, Norma Mangione Gallery and Sergey Kantsedal.

(Salvo, Un poeta latino, 1979, oil on board, Galleria In Arco, Torino)

December 8, 2021

New live act at Castello di Rivoli

On the occasion of the 17th edition of Giornata del Contemporaneo promoted by AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, I will present at Castello di Rivoli a new live act in dialogue with Giuliana Rosso’s installation Till what we speculate has been (2021). Then, I will have the pleasure to talk with Giuliana Rosso and Chief Curator Marcella Beccaria.

December 11, h.15.00, Gallery 6, Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

December 7, 2021

Pictures of Green was the forest drenched with shadows

So happy to share the documentation of Green was the forest drenched with shadows, a program curated by Giulia Colletti and Matteo Mottin, with The Forest Curriculum, Leonardo Caffo, and a special listening session of my sound artwork frogs.picus.VANNA.

Kindly hosted by Almanac Inn.

Pictures by Domenico Conte

November 30, 2021

frogs.picus.VANNA at Almanac, Turin

Super happy to announce that a special listening session of my sound installation frogs.picus.VANNA will take place at Almanac Turin on December 2, 2021, in the frame of Green was the forest drenched with shadows: a public program entangling plants, animals and more-than-human entities in the metamorphic trope of the forest, featuring The Forest Curriculum, philosopher Leonardo Caffo, and curated by Matteo Mottin and Giulia Colletti.

December 2, 2021, h. 19 CET – online & in presence, Almanac, Via Reggio 13, Turin

November 4, 2021

A piano from shoulder to wrist | pictures of the performance for Artissima 2021

I would like to thank artist Monia Ben Hamouda for such a wonderful documentation of my brand new performance, A piano from shoulder to wrist, presented at Artissima 2021.

October 24, 2021

A piano from shoulder to wrist | A new sound performance for Artissima Fair 2021

On November 4th, 2021 I’ll present a new sound performance entitled A piano from shoulder to wrist, on the occasion of the preview night of Artissima Fair. I’ll share the stage with artist Lee Fraser.

A piano from shoulder to wrist is a sound collage inspired by the need for hybridization and contamination between disciplines, on the urgency of sound expression even where sound does not seem possible.

See you at Combo, Corso Regina Margherita 128, Turin, from 10.30pm.

October 23, 2021

Trees are columns with clouds on top at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome

Honored to announce that I will participate to the exhibition Autoritratto come Salvo that will open on October 27, 2021 at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.

Autoritratto come Salvo is a polyphonic compendium of works that offers an overview of the complex figure of Salvo. The exhibition project will include my vinyl along with works by artists Jonathan Monk, Nicolas Party and Nicola Pecoraro. In addition, I will also offer my own personal interpretation of the show… Stay tuned!

October 19, 2021

“Mizu no oto” for OFHUNDRED radio

So happy to publish on ofhundred.com my last sound piece: Mizu no oto (The sound of water) is a long track commissioned by Castello Di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea as an original score for the video documentation of Supercondominio 3 .

Thanks to curator Felipe Duque, the work can now fully live also as a pure sound piece. So, close your eyes and listen!

September 25, 2021

frogs.picus.VANNA | Sound installation for Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea

Elated to announce that Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea has commissioned me a new sound installation for the Magic Electric Bus project. I had the honor of participating to the event together with artist Otobong Nkanga, critic Achille Bonito Oliva, and writers Stephanie LaCava, Gianluigi Ricuperati and Valentina Maini.

The three-channel work invites the listener to indulge in an exercise that echoes the practice of Japanese Shinrin-yoku practice.

September 16, 2021

Original soundtrack for Supercondominio 3 – Odorate Ginestre

I had the great pleasure to create the original music for the video documentation of Supercondominio 3, the gathering of Italian contemporary art spaces, hosted by Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and narrated trough the eyes of Matilde Sambo. Enjoy!

April 29, 2021

On ARTnews

So honored to be featured in this amazing article about Torino by Carolyn Christov-Backargiev on ARTnews.

March 1, 2021

Exhalation: a new sound collage and a reading for ON AIR

I’ve been invited by Alessandra Poggianti and Juan Pablo Macias to contribute to ON AIR, a collaborative project that works as an online-offline content hub on air, atmosphere,  environment and breathing.

For AIR COLUMNS I made a reading of Ted Chiang’s short story “Exhalation”, accompanying it with an original background sound intervention. While, for the ARCHIVE, I realized a new sound collage mixing field recordings and iconic characters’ voices from different movies.

Enjoy! (And breath…)

LINK: 

EXHALATION: READING

EXHALATION: SOUND COLLAGE

Also on Spotify: click here

Images: Alan Stefanato, Untitled, 2021

 

February 4, 2021

Special guest at Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’arte contemporanea

Pictures taken during the opening of the Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’arte Contemporanea on February the 4th.

I’ve been invited, among other artists, by Director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev to talk about some of the artworks belonging to the permanent collection and the exhibition “Espressioni. The Proposition”. I choose Stainway & Sons (1987) by Bertrand Lavier and The Rant (2006) by Chris Burden. 

Special thanks to Giulia Colletti

December 4, 2020

Artissima 2020 | Digital Walkie Talkies with Ilaria Bonacossa

I’ve been invited by Artissima’s director Ilaria Bonacossa to discuss with her the artworks of “Frenetic Standstill” for the new special edition of Walkie Talkies. Come with us to discover the exhibition at MAO – Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin.

September 30, 2020

Trees are columns with clouds on top: second edition out now!

I’m thrilled to announce that the second edition of Trees are columns with clouds on top it’s now available!

For information or to purchase your copy send an email to: info@normamangione.com or visit the website http://www.normamangione.com

 

June 5, 2020

Music Without Images: new sound piece for POLVERE

I’ve been invited by Ornella Paglialonga to participate with a new sound piece to Polvere, a podcast series dedicated to music and sound poetry hosted by Pillow Talk. 
You can find it here

The project Music Without Images for POLVERE is Image. Sound. Sounds experienced through images. Field recordings where the “field” corresponds to the visual field. A collage, a mix of music listened through a screen, through precise, erotic, philosophical, spiritual images, a source of two-dimensional dreamlike nourishment, from which to leave in order to come back to the physicality and corporeality of the sound itself and of life, as in a ritual.

May 28, 2020

Special playlist for Dancing Is What We Make Of Falling

I’ve been invited to create a playlist to illustrate the amazing experience of Dancing is what we make of falling, the show curated by Samuele Piazza and Valentina Lacinio at OGR, for which I had the pleasure to play as resident dj. You can find it here

February 25, 2020

Sound performance for Salvo’s solo show “Autogrill” | Mehdi Chouakri Gallery, Berlin

Due to the health emergency in Italy all the upcoming live acts are postponed until further notice.

On March 14 I’ll have the pleasure and honor to play a sound performance during the opening of “Autogrill”, Salvo’s solo show at Mehdi Chouakri Gallery in Berlin.

On the occasion of the exhibition will be presented a special reprint of the vinyl “Trees are Columns with Clouds on Top”. To pre-order your copy, please write to info@normamangione.com

See you in Berlin!

January 28, 2020

Dancing is what we make of falling 2 | MY BODIES | OGR, Turin

Due to the health emergency in Italy all the upcoming live acts are postponed until further notice.

I’m glad to announce my participation in Dancing is what we make of falling 2 | MY BODIES, an exhibition curated by Valentina Lacinio and Samuele Piazza at OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni Torino.

From February 21 until March 22, I will play a musical introduction conceived in resonance with the theme of each event.

 

November 2, 2019

Trees are columns with clouds on top | Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin

Here are some pictures taken during the performance and vinyl launch of Trees are columns with clouds on top at Norma Mangione Gallery, Turin, during Artissima Fair week.

Photos by Domenico Conte.

May 26, 2019

Jazz is dead! 2019 | San Pietro in Vincoli, Turin

Pictures taken during Jazz is dead! 2019, where I had the pleasure to play the opening act for Evan Parker and Thurston Moore.

October 19, 2018

Dancing is what we make of falling | OGR, Turin

A selection of pictures taken during the exhibition curated by Valentina Lacinio & Samuele Piazza at OGR Torino. 

Dancing Is What We Make Of Falling is “a statement on what art can do in times of crisis (quoting poet and researcher Fred Moten). It’s a series of 6 different events crossbreeding visual and video art and a proper public program, framed within a critical view on society and the city by minorities, or by groups suffering a general denial of agency”. (Giovanni Comoglio for Domus)

Photos by Domenico Conte.

September 19, 2018

It raises and spreads in the air – Ramona Ponzini plays Paola Anziché | Bunker, Turin

A short video of my performance at Bunker, where I created a live set interacting with a Paola Anziché’s sculpture.

Video by Andrea Migliorati & Cristina Ruggieri (PAYNOMINDTOUS)

September 17, 2016

Teatrum Botanicum 2016 | PAV Parco Arte Vivente, Turin

I had the pleasure to play at PAV Parco Arte Vivente during the first edition of Teatrum Botanicum. My set was accompanied with an improvised dancing performance by Lucia Guarino.

PAV dedicated three days to a group of emerging artists who, with their practice, investigate in different ways the natural and ecological dimension that is typical of the contemporary art center. Teatrum Botanicum is not a conventional exhibition but a real festival, consisting of multiple interventions: performance practices, projections, talk and performance-lectures, DJ sets and live sets.

Video by Andrea Migliorati & Cristina Ruggieri (PAYNOMINDTOUS)

May 14, 2016

Varvara Festival 2016 | Superbudda, Turin

In this video, the full documentation of my performance for Varvara Preview 2016.