Direct and concrete action upon one of the mechanical, invisible, and inaudible devices of the theatrical machine. The intervention is carried out on the malacate (winch) that enables the raising and lowering of the Murano crystal chandelier located in the ceiling panel, hanging above the theater’s stalls; thus employing both the building and the object itself as instrument, resonant chamber, and plastic materiality. The sound is produced essentially by the friction of the steel cable as it unwinds and by the collision of the chandelier’s crystal drops. The work evokes the intonarumori of the Futurist artist Luigi Russolo.
The sound of the action, as the chandelier moves, is amplified in real time and within a “dark” spatial environment, and projected at high intensity through the theater’s loudspeaker system. Simultaneously, the chandelier, which begins in complete darkness, gradually illuminates as it descends to its lowest point and highest luminous intensity, and then ascends, returning in the same manner to total darkness.
Members of the theater’s technical team participated in the action: Elías Palacio, Luis García, Héctor González, and Efraín Parra, operating the ascent and descent of the chandelier; and Carlos Casallas, providing technical audio assistance.
Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/carlosmauriciobejarano/malacate
