Cory Arcangel's currentmood audio work in Helicotrema X Festival
19 October 2021
On Thursday 21 October, Cory Arcangel presents his 2016 audio work currentmood as part of the tenth edition of the Helicotrema recorded audio festival, presented for the first time outside of Italy at Hangar in Barcelona.
Inspired by the early decades of radio broadcasts, when people gathered together just to listen to sound and voices, Helicotrema curates sound paths comprising audio works, plays, soundscapes, poetry and other formats that are solely based around audio components. At Hangar, Helicotrema will present three listening sessions exploring invisible sound bodies, immersive audio, deep listening and spoken words. Arcangel's currentmood features in the first session, Ghost Tracks, alongside pieces by James T. Green, Annea Lockwood, Matteo Nasini, Giulia Vismara, Roberta Busechian and Sebastiane Hegarty.
The work is an audio piece generated in real time by the digital audio workstation application Ableton Live. The app generates white noise that is filtered, and then side chained to a muted sampled 909 kick drum. These are production tricks used in contemporary dance music to make a track sound fuller and brighter. The result is the sound that normally would be layered under a dance music track, almost inaudibly, but here it is the abrasive focus of the piece.
Find further information and book tickets via Hangar.org.
Image © Cory Arcangel, courtesy the artist
