In Voice Engine (2021), cinema acts as a speculative instrument that interrogates partly unique qualities of space. Rosa Barba destabilises the hierarchy of cinema's components and lets them interact in new and unforeseen ways. As a new auditorium, it resonates with Barba’ sculptural approach to film, redefining the relation between the work and the viewer.
With this piece, she further explores the perpetual transformation of images and their translation through sound. Different choirs are the protagonists of this new live-film performance. As they perform, the frequencies of the voices trigger film projectors and reveal images and text on a constellation of screens surrounding them. The performances evolve over consecutive days, while the auditorium-set can also be visited as an installation during the daytime.
"My practice reflects an intense interest in a conceptual approach ... with cinema being regarded in an architectural sense, whereby the environment (the space), the screen, and the projection can be combined or pushed forward to create another space 'beyond'. A space shot through with a sense of uncertainty andspeculation.”
Here, the voice determines what we can and cannot see. Barba continues, "Omission is the action of creating a space that temporally makes use of exclusion for the benefit of highlighting a non-placed narrative ... I have come to the conclusion that it is only through light that we produce this particular experience of cinema. In this piece, light and sound define this new space as equal partners."
Commissioned by International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021 and co-produced by Callie’s, Berlin.
Voice Engine, 2021
Performance
Images: Performance/Installation view at Callie’s, Berlin, 2021. Photo: Callie's © Rosa Barba