mic.

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Simon Whetham and Hugo Olim were teamed up by Rafael Biscoito, the artistic director of the MADEIRADIG festival, for the creation of an audiovisual performance in 2010.

 

Madeira’s native Hugo Olim has been performing live visuals in collaborations with various musicians (Vitor Joaquim, Nuno Rebelo, Jerome Faria, João Ricardo, etc.). Bristol’s Simon Whetham creates sound compositions from recordings of found sound and sonic investigation of objects, having thus far produced a series of releases through several international labels and performed extensively worldwide.

 

For the performance at MADEIRADIG, Whetham created a multi-channel audio composition from field recordings captured across the island of Madeira, traveling various routes with Olim, exploring many locations that seemed promising or that were simply found along the way. Using various microphones and hydrophones, many sonic aspects of the island were captured. These were then edited and examined during the preparation of the piece.

 

Olim’s performance was created from the usage of a microscope fitted with a digital camera, with which he magnified various substances and objects, all from Madeira. This signal was then fed through various subtle visual effects that reacted to certain frequencies in the audio composition. This piece’s title thus refers to the main tools used in the exploration of Madeira’s landscape, microphones by Whetham and microscope by Olim.

 

The artists subsequently recomposed the piece for presentation as a DVD release through Portugal's Crónica Electronica.

Please visit the www.cronicaelectronica.org for more details.