Martha Riva Palacio

Martha Riva Palacio Obón

Mexican author and sound artist. She studied a BA in Psychology and a MFA in Visual Arts and is part of the arts and science collective Cúmulo de Tesla. In 2019 she was granted the Otherwise Fellowship for her interdisciplinary project Following crickets around the house and since 2022, she’s part of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte in Mexico. Her sound essays have been presented in spaces such as Soundsaurus, Tsonami, Radiophrenia, Sur Aural and sound pedro 2022 among others.

Artist Location: Mexico City, Mexico

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PARTICIPATION

Soundscapes [audio tracks] On-site June 3rd and online June 11th

Antología liquen / Lichen anthology 
This sound essay is my take on the concept of holobiont proposed by Lynn Marulis. We are, were, will be bodies ecosystems lichen. Symbiosis: I record the sounds I make with my mouth when speaking and mix them in different frequencies with radio static. Resounding symbionts entangle opening a gap through which an infinity of possible worlds emerge. Cacophony, chaos, flow: it’s impossible to know if I’m one or a multitude. 

Khthónios – invocación / Khthonios – invocation 
Interspecies hymn built from the digital mix of crickets and human voice in different frequencies. Cthonic spirits that swarm in the compost, the underworld, and generate with their voices the cyclic rhythm of death- live. Microscopic transit, inefable precipitation of the matter that decomposes and germinates. Invocation: to bring back in sound a medieval bestiary; to recreate a fragmented, spectral testimony of those who once inhabited this wounded planet. Kthonios, from earth.

Soundscapes [audio tracks] On-site and online June 4th

Persephone awakes X / Perséfone despierta X
This piece is the tenth iteration of a sound essay built from the digital mix of human voice and crickets chirping in different frequencies. Compost: subtle variations of the same chaos. Fluid, nomadic entities fuze into one single sonic body. Symbiosis. Paraphrasing Salomé Voegelin, a multiplicity of possible worlds emerge from these dis/harmonies that sometimes are considered monstrous. 

Woman-goddess-insect stirs the earth, brings us spring.

The fish are electrons gliding over the water: an electric blue flash, ghost particles.
This track is part of a project called Following crickets around the house. I mix a single house cricket chirping in different frequencies. Our rhythms get entangled, here I evoke the cosmic chant of a shoal of fish.

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