Gasworks
Marssares
1 July 2004 - 1 October 2004
Marssares is a performance and sound artist based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His practice involves intervening with spaces either to manipulate their existing ambient sound or to create a sound base on which other activities take place. For instance, Marssares recently set up 'Sound Parks' around the city. This project sparked from the idea of working with the sound of the city or of nature to give audiences a more interactive and pleasurable experience of public spaces. An ongoing Sound Park, for instance, is the one created for Ipanema beach, where a wooden sound structure is buried under the sand forming a web of speakers. People would then walk onto the speakers which could be both heard and felt. The sound structures can also be used indoors where they are often suspended.
In 2000 he moved into Agora Capacete Gallery for 2 weeks taking his sound structure there. He spent the time making sound in the computer, which featured the participation of the public in daily rituals of collective music-making which Marssares calls Uguanda (a meeting of crossed-music). During Uguandas the participants are invited to join him in a "sound orgy". The routine that he was practising every week for two years in Copacabana was now brought to a formal art space.
Marssares' performances often involve sound compressions. These are musical constructions that combine rhythms and interferences with influences from samba, jazz, funk, and tribal rhythms. In some of the performances he dresses up as O Bate Bola, a typical figure from the Carioca Carnival. Supposedly a scary clown who both disrupts and gives a tempo to the parade with loud noises, O Bate Bola is favoured yet feared by children for his irreverence and unpredictability. The figure had been conceived while he made the music for Uguandas, but the opportunity only arose during a performance at Cordao do Bola Preta (a traditional carnival ballroom in Rio).
During the residency Marssares was interviewed by the the London based duo Tetine, who regularly host a feature on Resonance FM.
Uguanda at the Tabernacle
Tues 14th September 7-10pm
Marssares played in collaboration with the Mangrove Steel Band and Beto Valente
For one evening, the Tabernacle’s Café was taken over by Marssares’ sound, spanning samba, funk, and dub. Instruments were available for café-goers to pick up and join in with the sound, creating a spontaneous fusion of music where influences and sounds were crossed and mixed.
Uguanda is a live, participatory chaos/sound performance developed by visiting artist Marssares, accompanied by the Mangrove Steel Band and Beto Valente. For one evening, the Tabernacle’s Café was taken over by Marssares’ sound, spanning samba, funk, and dub. Instruments were available for café-goers to pick up and join in with the sound, creating a spontaneous fusion of music where influences and sounds were crossed and mixed.
Marssares is known for his sound constructions, Uguandas and other sound performances developed over the past seven years during which he has created interactive performances in carnivals, street settings, beaches, and ballrooms across Rio de Janeiro.
For further information on this event, please contact Frauke Ehmke, or call 020 7587 5202.
