ALEX MENDIZABAL
The practice of Alex Mendizabal is characterised by the construction of instruments and sound spatialisation. It often adopts unusual forms, such as blind films, concerts in movement or underwater music. Now based in Rome, this musician and composer from San Sebastian has spent thirty years researching different areas of music and sound. His proposals range from music for orchestra to experiments with graphical notation, scores of less than a second and concerts for geological movements. In 1996, he stopped composing in order to dedicate himself to making instruments and incorporating space and a reflection on listening as the bases of his proposals.

On this occasion, Mendizabal will occupy the Atrium of the Museum with balloons, soap, chickpeas and the sound intersection produced by their coming together. Coinciding with the fiestas of the Raval, his installation can be visited free of charge throughout the day.

JUDY DUNAWAY
Judy Dunaway began experimenting with balloons inspired by John Cage and influenced by Fluxus, free improvisation and other avant-gardes movements. The AIDS crisis of the early 1980s led her to explore without inhibition the extraordinary sound palette created by the inadvertent sound-conducting quality of inflated latex. A political and bodily positioning that has become her signature, as she points out in her online manifesto: ‘My own work then, does not come out of a void. Creating a large body of work for balloons has allowed me to develop a vocabulary outside the realm of oppressive classical heritage. It has raised the ordinary and mundane to the status of high art. I have fetishised this simple cheap toy in my music, as the violin has been fetishised for centuries by Western-European influenced composers. In an era where the progress toward a woman's control of her own body is threatened, I have coupled myself to a musical instrument that expresses sensuality, sexuality and humanity without inhibition.’

Dunaway’s performance is articulated in two variations: a solo show with projections prepared specifically for the occasion and a balloon symphony with the public.


Judy Dunaway - Hommage à Kenneth Noland

Main sponsor of the activities:
Estrella Damm
Alex Mendizabal @ Tabakalera, Donostia. 2015/09/11-12

Programme

THURSDAY 13 JULY, at 8.30 pm

Alex Mendizabal at 8.30 pm. general switch-off. Meier Atrium.
Judy Dunaway at 9.00 pm. Meier Auditorium.

* The installation of Alex Mendizabal can be visited in the Atrium of the Museum all day for free.

Public Programmes
macba [at] macba [dot] cat
Tel: 93 481 33 68