It's impossible for nothing to make a sound. Even in an anechoic chamber, we can hear our circulatory system (John Cage), even in the quietest place, the frequency of an electric light bulb can be perceived. But what happens when everything makes a sound, and there are too many? Could we become alienated and stop listening?
Space and context shape how we position ourselves in the world. Our willingness to listen is also essential. The paradoxes Julia Bejarano presents in this exhibition are meant to make us reflect and become aware. They further open that universe of listening to all existing possibilities.
Julia is interested in displacement, in traversing all kinds of territories, even the celestial ones, where there is no sound. In one of her works composed of images of Earth, the artist moves away from it by leaps and bounds, finding new words and metaphors for that lapis lazuli-colored home that recedes ever further into the distance. Another of her explored territories is the grooves of a vinyl record, where she evokes seemingly eternal waterfalls, because the flow of water never stops, yet it is finite when the record player's needle reaches an edge.
Territories are measured by distance, whether terrestrial or celestial, and these distances can be equated with sound durations and wavelengths (frequencies). Julia plays metaphorically by fragmenting the rules of measurement, imagining that, although the limits of hearing at high and low frequencies are determined by the constitution of our ears, these limits do not actually exist.
The phenomenon of resonance and the creation of acoustic devices are central to the exhibition. These recall the polymath Athanasius Kircher's artifacts. Without resonating bodies, sound barely exists. The design of a resonating box representing the artist's head would be the ideal resonator, vibrating in sync with her surroundings. But she goes much further. She works with seashells and acoustic spirals (seashells = ears) and creates various works. She poetically explores the need to resonate with the world and with each other.
Finally, the artist evokes a state of motion in two sonic works that are in continuous suspension. In these pieces, time's boundaries dissolve, and, through diverse ways of listening, absence of limits, and constant resonance, the listener merges with the vibration. This collective merging is the core experience the artist seeks to convey.
Manuel Rocha Iturbide - Curator
