Sound Art Residency 2023: Ginebra Raventós and Paul Hertz

This year’s edition of the Sound Art Residency, which encourages transatlantic collaboration in sound art, features Spanish artist Ginebra Raventós, a poet and transmedia artist exploring voice, collective unconscious, and psychoacoustics.

The Sound Art Residency is conceived as a digital residency where the residents have the opportunity to research, experiment, and share knowledge and ideas. The residency aims to create a platform to enable artists from both sides of the Atlantic to extend the development of sound art and to encourage them to create new work and foster artistic collaborations.
The invited artists for the 2023 edition were Spanish artist Ginebra Raventós and artist Paul Hertz.

Ginebra Raventós

Ginebra Raventós is a poet and transmedia artist, her field of research crosses the voice, the word, the collective unconscious, and the psychoacoustics through sound and space. She has published the sound book Saturn darrere nostre: el glaç, el got, el buit, l’acte verte (2019), the immersive poem Estampes del vertigen, del membre fantasma, de l’èxtasi, de tu (2023) and the artist book GONG (2015).

Raventós performed at the Fundació Tàpies, Eufònic Festival, Antic Teatre, SONAR + D, Hangar, CC sant Agusti, Konvent0, Phonos, La casa encendida, Copenhagen Literature Festival and KUA university, MONOM.

Raventós is part of The Acoustic Heritage Collective, based in Barcelona and Berlin. Their lines of action include safeguarding of acoustic and sound heritage, workshops and lectures, research and dissemination, and digitization of heritage. This latest work is an immersive narrative based on Jules Verne’s book Journey to the center of the earth.

Ginebra Raventós is also part of Sessions nocturnes, a project that combines techno with elements of IDM, acid, and poetry. Its sound is a combination of synthesizers, analog drum machines, soundscapes, recited poetry, and its own sound registers.

Paul Hertz

Paul Hertz is an independent artist, printmaker, and curator who works with algorithmic processes. From 1971 to 1983, he lived and worked in Spain, where he collaborated with actors and musicians. He earned a BA in Fine Arts from Brown University (1971) and an MFA in Time Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1985), where he was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in Art and Technology. He taught courses in the theory, practice, and art history of new media at Northwestern University (1995–2004) and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2011–2018).

Hertz’s curatorial work includes Second Nature (1999) for the City of Chicago’s Project Millennium, all.go.rhythm (2015) and glitChicago (2014) –all at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago– and Imaging by Numbers (2008) at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum, Northwestern University. La Finca/The Homestead (1995), one of the earliest art exhibitions on the WWW, with works by seven artists and critics, was exhibited at Northwestern University and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

Hertz has exhibited his archival pigment prints and interactive installations at numerous international media festivals, conferences, and symposia. His large scale glass mural A Chance Encounter of Measure and Continuity (2016) is featured in the headquarters of the National Science Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia. His most recent intermedia experience, Campos | Temporales, a collaboration with composer Christopher Walczak, ran from October through December 2022 at 150 Media Stream in Chicago.

Sound piece

This sound piece was created by Ginebra Raventós and Paul Hertz as the result of the Sound Art Residency:

Note: This is a 360-degree video. Use the arrows on the top left of the video to move around the room.

Upon learning of my selection for the ESS residency, a series of online sessions unfolded, paving the way for a productive collaboration. Paul Hertz, my designated local partner, brought forth a unique advantage, having lived in Barcelona years prior, thus facilitating seamless communication. Together, we shared our expectations for the residency, which culminated in a series of collaborative projects during my stay in Chicago.

My primary focus was the development of my new album “Estampes del silenci, del vertigen, del membre fantasma, de l’èxtasi, de tu.”, with a special emphasis on expanding the sonic landscape of Diana Deutsch’s “Phantom Words” (2003). This involved extensive research on new technologies, spatialization techniques, and the incorporation of words from diverse languages, with a particular emphasis on multi-syllabic compositions. Subsequently, a myriad of sound processing actions was executed using professional studio tools, resulting in a rich sonic tapestry.

Simultaneously, Paul Hertz and I collaborated on crafting a Residency presentation show comprising three main acts: a “phantom words” octophonic sound installation (listening session), a screening of a short film by Paul Hertz, and a culminating live performance. The latter featured a spatial audio presentation of my latest record, “Saturn darrere nostre: el glaç, el got, el buit, l’acte verge,” intertwined with Paul’s live improvisation using his self-developed PixelAudio software (mage to sound/sound to image tool). This captivating live performance was fully documented in both 360 audio and 360 video.

Additionally, thanks to Paul’s help, I had the opportunity to meet Professor Eric Leonardson during his lecture class for the Sound Art Master program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This allowed me to engage in insightful conversations with Eric about various topics related to spatial audio and local initiatives and share my latest record with his students.

Another noteworthy outcome of the residency was a successful public workshop hosted for the ESS community, focusing on the safeguarding of acoustic heritage through in-situ impulse response measurements. The workshop garnered significant interest, with a sold-out participation keen on learning the intricacies of preserving this vital heritage asset and using it for artistic purposes.

In summary, the ESS residency was not only a professionally enriching experience but also a profoundly inspiring period for artistic exploration. My sincere gratitude extends to the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in the US, Experimental Sound Studio, with special acknowledgment to Adam Vida, Alex Inglizian, Olivia Junell, and Kate In. Additionally, heartfelt thanks to Paul Hertz for his invaluable artistic feedback, and to Paula, Paul Giallorenzo and Isa for their warm and welcoming hospitality.

—Ginebra Raventós

Experimental sound studio

Founded in 1986 by Dawn and Lou Mallozzi, Eric Leonardson, and Perry Venson, Experimental Sound Studio (ESS) has occupied its Edgewater location since 2006. The facility is home to a full-service recording, mixing, and mastering studio for hire; Audible Gallery, a small public space for exhibitions, meetings, workshops, performances, and artists’ projects; and the Creative Audio Archive —a collection of recordings, print, and visual ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music of the last five decades.

ESS presents eclectic performance and installation programming, workshops, and artist talks year round —both in the various spaces around the studio (including its garden) and at various partner venues around Chicago.