ROBERTO PUGLIESE

Roberto Pugliese is a sound and media artist currently based in Helsinki. His work consists of compositions, installations and performances based on sound in combination with the visual and audience participation. He uses sound and its transformation to establish alternative relations between audience and the space. By collecting and digitally processing environmental sound and video material, he works towards a common language among visual and sonic imaginaries.

Also he has been collaborating with dancers and choreographers for the creation of alternative stages and forms of new media performance.

In my installation I am interested in the role of sound in the shaping of our experience of places and the sense of presence in our daily life. We participate with our actions in the creation of soundscapes, be it natural, mechanical or digital.

I have been focusing on the experience of sound as physical and intimately connected with the sense of touch.My artistic practice springs from the phenomenology of the senses of touch and hearing, and moves towards strategies of decoupling, augmenting, subverting the usual “contact” with those channels. The result is a magnification of their impact, not just as a force, but also of their importance as mediator of our experience. I can say my works are multimedia pieces where the viewer participates and re-establishes a previously altered, offset relation with the location.

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INSTALLATIONS

The space of a year unveils and explores the sonic and visual territories that we inhabit and the transformations that they undergo during the year. Sometimes these changes are sudden and strong, but other times they just go by gradually or completely unnoticed. The changing sonic and visual textures that we attribute to different seasons of the year are dissected, blended, disrupted and distorted. The installation contemplates how different notions of the sonic and visual transformations that surround us reflect our perception of time – and, on the other hand, how our perception of time is anchored in acoustic terrains.Walking around in the space deepens the imaginative and immersive dimension. The sonic palette triggers personal memories and subjective perceptions of familiar places. The space of a year creates a dialogue among the inhabitants of the same latitude through the experience of a common sonic and visual imaginary and the passage of time.

The Space Of A Year2-channel audiovisual installation

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the space of a year - installation model4

the space of a year - double projection frames 5

the space of a year - double projection frames6

the space of a year - double projection frames 7

the space of a year - double projection frames8

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An interactive fabric of sound reacts to touch. The piece invites exploring the intimate relation between sound and touch. Producing sound become easily accessible by naturally touching the fabric and discovering its tactile and sonic properties at once. The three frames are transformed into different instruments that several participants can intuitively play at the same time. Improvising, coordinating and "playing" together remind us that music is at the very core a participatory and social activity.The installation is an example of how to transform the tactile exploration of a physical object into a performative and possibly collective sound-making activity.

puShysound and tactile installation

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puShy at Plektrum Festival - Tallin, 2011 11

puShy at Plektrum Festival - Tallin, 201112

puShy at Plektrum Festival - Tallin, 2011 13

puShy at Plektrum Festival - Tallin, 201114

puShy at ONEDOTZERO for Acer event, Science Museum - London, 2012 15

Traffic is an ambient interface for a public space realized in collaboration with Rachel O'Dwyer. The system monitors and responds to the many and varied flows of movement within a public space, such as crowd densities, mobility patterns and virtual traffic on a public network. This data is subsequently used to drive a granular synthesis soundscape and visualizations. The system is a real-time response to the space but also incorporates a temporal dimension, storing information about what has taken place there before, and subsequently leveraging this data to produce subtle emergent behaviors within the system. The system was conceptually inspired by two research imperatives: ambient interfaces and data sonification. The soundscape produced is quite subtle and provides information about a user’s environment in an unobtrusive fashion, only calling attention to itself in rare circumstances such as very high incidences of human/network traffic through the space.

Trafficparticipatory audiovisual installation

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Traffic, visualization of visitors flow 17

Traffic, Science Gallery, Dublin, 201018

Traffic, Science Gallery, Dublin, 2010 19

The child with the mirror is an interactive installation which portrays the dream experience. The piece is an interactive journey in physical space for one visitor at a time. The installation presents visual elements, which are projected on multiple flat screens and custom-made objects, multi-channel audio and provides ways for the participant to interact and affect the piece.

The child with the mirrorinteractive audiovisual installation

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The child with the mirror, Joy Gallery, Dublin, 2009 21

PERFORMANCES

A performance for live electronics where sound from melting ice is picked and processed real-time. While the source vanishes it provides material to be used for musical purposes. The aleatory characteristic of the process is partially governed by the use of live-electronics and custom software.

The performance combines these live elements with field recordings based on the soundscape of Fortapt i naturen (lost in nature) by Thorolf Thuestad.

Live at Borealis Festival 2013ice and live electronics

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Borealis Festival, Bergen, Norway, 2013 25

Borealis Festival, Bergen, Norway, 201326

e-mpact A is a multimedia dance performance where choreographed and improvised elements coexist and articulate themselves through motion, visuals and sound.The piece stems from both electronic and environmental impact. The performance takes an ecological point of view regarding the relation between a cyborg and its environment, who affect and react to each other in a fluid feedback loop.The visuals appear as organisms that occupy the same space as that of the dancer, interacting with him. Their movement is driven by the sound as if they were dancing to it. When the visual elements and the dancer’s body are close enough, the costume becomes the point of contact that makes the dialogue between real and virtual possible.The artistic team includes also costume designer Sampo Lehtinen, industrial designer Mikko Anttilainen and media artist Tuukka Takala.

e-mpact Adigitally augmented audiovisuall performance

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E-mpact A - CARTES FLUX festival, Espoo, Finland, 201228

E-mpact A - CARTES FLUX festival, Espoo, Finland, 2012

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E-mpact A - CARTES FLUX festival, Espoo, Finland, 201230

In this audiovisual performance with Beniamino Borghi, we search for an audiovisual dialogue on and off stage. The dancer, confined on the little table, becomes a canvas for the projection, driven by the sound. At the same time his movement creates sound picked by the microphone underneath the table. A conversation among different media is established.

Presented at Loikka Festival, Helsinki, 2012.

Augmented dance performancedigitally augmented audiovisuall performance

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Loikka festival, Helsinki, 201232

In this collaboration with the ensemble Ö, lead by composer Tuomas Palonen, I exclusively work on performing visuals which are animated, accompany and complement the music played by the band. The concept is that a dancer guides with iconic gestures the performers, which play independently following different musical rules and tempi. The result is a complex intertwine of media and performative layers.

Visual performancedigitally augmented audiovisuall performance

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Harakkasaari Art Gallery, Helsinki, 201134

Lavaklubi at Finnish National Theater, Helsinki, 2011 35

Lavaklubi at Finnish National Theater, Helsinki, 2011 36

INSTALLATION

PuShy, a tactile sonic installation, Science Museum, 31 October 2012, London (UK), and Plektrum festival, 8-18 September 2011, Tallinn (EE).

Traffic, sound and visual responsive installation, with Rachel O’Dwyer, BIORHYTHM exhibition, Eyebeam Art+Technology Center, August 2011, New York (US), and Science Gallery, July-September 2010, Dublin (IE).

The child with the mirror, interactive installation for multiple projections and surround sound, Joy Gallery, 26-28 June 2009, Dublin (IE).

Action painting through digital media, interactive installation, Science Gallery, 26 January 2009, Dublin (IE).

PERFORMANCE

Live set at Boreali Festival, 9 March 2013, Bergen (NO).

E-mpact A – audiovisual dance performance, with dancer/choreographer Mikko Kallinen, Cartes Flux festival, 17 October 2012, Espoo (FI).

Augmented dance performance with Beniamino Borghi, Loikka Festival, 24 March 2012, Helsinki (FI).

Multimedia performances with Ö orchestra at Performance Club Hidas, December 2011, Tampere (FI); Harakkasaari Art Gallery, May 2011, Helsinki (FI); Lavaklubi at Finnish National Theater, May 2011, Helsinki (FI).

simpleLife, generative sound piece for 8 channels, 4for8 event, TAI studio, University of Art and Design, April 2011, Helsinki (FI).

Interactive digital performance workshop in collaboration with the Beckett Centre, Science Gallery, 7 March 2009, Dublin (IE).

Sound design for the play “The Insanity of Mary Girard” by Lanie Robertson, at Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, 4-7 December 2008, Dublin (IE).

Selection of works

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http://robertopugliese.net/

ROBERTO PUGLIESE © 2013