MINIMAL TECHNOLOGY / 8.8 / HR-C-21 / DIGITAL / 2020
8.8 was the magnitude on the moment magnitude scale of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, known as 27F, which occurred in 2010 at 3:34:08 AM in Chile, and was felt by 80% of the country’s population, in addition to localities in Argentina and Perú. 525 people lost their lives and 14 were reported missing. There was a blackout that affected 93% of the country’s population and a state of emergency was declared. This is roughly the background to 8.8, the “transmedia art project” (video, sculpture, graphics, installation, technology, sound/music) developed between 2016 and 2017 by Minimal Technology. 8.8 is articulated around the notion of the earthquake as a massive fracture that gives an uppercut to our social order, exposing us as a landscape rather than a country (Nicanor Parra).
8.8, the album, it was developed in an artistic residence between May and June 2017, in the architectural project Casa Poli a few kilometers from the 27F epicenter. The grooves of this vinyl record are assumed as a component of interaction in which seagulls, the sea, rhythmic percussions on metal, megaphoning, bubbles, processed charango, Static phone line hums/interferences/digital glitches together with big beat passages of neo-brutalist electronic body music, manipulation of vinyl records in turntables and less clear elements, converges to evoke the natural and human landscape. In terms of style, we can perceive several constants present in his previous discography, that is, an approach between sound art and experimental electronics. About the sound, the manipulation of found material and electronic music, playing between site-specific and field recording. A sort of minimalism almost environmental at times with rhythmic passages between. “Conceptual” sound art, no doubt, but with founded everyday-folkloric elements sampled / processed / decomposed that dislocate and challenge the binary orthodox view.
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8.8 fue la magnitud del terremoto y posterior tsunami, conocidos como 27F, ocurrido el 2010 a las 3:34:08 AM en Chile, siendo percibido por un 80% de la población del país, además de localidades en Argentina y Perú. 525 personas perdieron la vida y 14 se reportaron como desaparecidas. Hubo un apagón que afectó al 93% de la población del país y se decretó estado de emergencia. Este es a grandes rasgos el trasfondo de 8.8, el “proyecto de arte transmedial” elaborado entre 2016 y el 2017 por el colectivo Minimal Technology. 8.8 en su conjunto se articula alrededor de la noción del terremoto como una fractura masiva que le proporciona un golpe al mentón a nuestro orden social, exponiéndonos como paisaje más que como país (Nicanor Parra).