PARTICIPATION
“PORTICULATES” is a cinematic exploration revolving around artist Reza Monahan’s immersive sound installation, “Insideoutmosphere.” This reverberating piece was cast across the cityscape of San Pedro from an antiquated cannon panama mount at the Angels Gate Cultural Center in 2023, as a highlight of their esteemed audio art series, “soundpedro.”
The film unfolds beneath a mesmerizing strawberry moon, capturing the multifaceted essence of San Pedro’s landscape. It traverses iconic landmarks such as the historic Point Fermin Lighthouse, the boisterous U.S.S. Iowa, the ethereal Vincent Thomas Bridge, and the mechanical and bustling Port of Los Angeles. The film’s auditory canvas is intricately woven from the installation’s granular aural textures, guiding the film’s editing structure and rhythm.
“Insideoutmosphere” is a sonic sculpture that arises from the nuanced recordings of sound-deadened spaces, amplifying the subtleties of their inherent audio artifacts and micro noises. These elements are meticulously crafted into samples, interspersed with equipment noise and ambient resonances, creating a symphony of industrial-like echoes. For soundpedro 2023 “MINGLE” (curated by Marco Schindelman), the installation featured a robust PA system with two JBLs on stands and a formidable subwoofer, orchestrated through a blend of digital and analog technology.
Monahan’s work here aims to highlight the curvilinear, oblique, and volumetric qualities of sound that resonate subliminally in and around the human-centric yet mechanized city of San Pedro. This investigation embodies what Monahan terms “Meta-Kinesthetics,” aligning with the traditions of the Haptic, a philosophical state of being that 20th-century French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty aligns with “felt phenomenology.”
Credits:
Producer/Director: Reza Monahan
Director of Photography: Walker Sayen
Editors: Walker Sayen/Reza Monahan
Sound Designers: Reza Monahan/Walker Sayen
This film is dedicated to: the organizers and attendees of soundpedro 2023 The City of San Pedro and Angels Gate Cultural Center
©2024 Reza Monahan Studio
Reza Monahan is an artist and filmmaker who holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Art Center College of Design and a BFA in Experimental Film and New Genres from San Francisco Art Institute. His studio blends questions of language and cinema within time-and-space-based projects to unfold ideas surrounding kinesthetics, design and phenomenology. Monahan’s installation art and speculative films have exhibited in venues and galleries including, UNTITLED Art Fair, Miami, ICALA, LAGE EGAL Gallery, Berlin, OR Gallery, Vancouver, Anthology Film Archives, NYC, Karma International, Zurich, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, MiM Gallery, Los Angeles and Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA.
Artist Location: Los Angeles, CA
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