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Ippocampo

NoPlace, Oslo, 2016

Drawn from a historically shared source material and files from audio archives, the work consists of an extended sound piece divided into three parts, exploring two non-related events based on the political and poetic relevance of the archive.

In 1960 the Italian magazine ‘Le Vie Nuove’ releases a sound file, randomly recorded by a pedestrian intending to record an upcoming demonstration in Reggio Emilia, Italy. As a score of abstract noise sequences, the audio file was a sonic backdrop of street riots, police clashing, shots of tear gas and firearms on protesters – the police operation called IPPOCAMPO (Hippocampus.) Released with a contributed text of Pier Paolo Pasolini, the record was meant to be broadcast, spread, and preserved to enlighten social memory, showing the vulnerability of a young generation at the moment they resisted, defended, and withdrew.

The sound piece contains domestic recordings, pitched-down tunes, abrasive audio textures, and vocals from teen aspiring musicians – youths dealing with music – some of whom have recently died from exploratory drug use or shot by police on the outskirts of “infamous” neighbourhoods. Many of these shootings caught on tape. By sampling and stretching the original tracks, each sample was altered, mixed, and distorted trough divergent sonic juxtapositions and live effects.

On August 9, 2014, a teenager named Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri, by officer Darren Wilson. Apparently, after stealing a box of cheap cigarillos. The shooting of Michael Brown rose in a massive uprising in Ferguson. One year later, during a large uprising memorial to Michael Brown, another teenager, and friend of Michael, Tyron Harris, was shot during the violent street rioting in Ferguson. Michael Brown, aka Big’Mike, and Tyrone Harris, aka Ty Glocks, were both aspiring rappers. In that same year, in South Italy, police shot Davide Bifolco, a teenager from the periphery of Napoli. Davide was driving a scooter with two other friends. After a long pursuit, as the boys refused to stop when ordered to, a policeman opened fire.

The work includes a spoken word piece downloaded from Assata Shakur online audio archive. In the recorded file, Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Panther Party, describes the way she got shot in the back in 1973 by Trooper Harper, after complying with his demands of raising her arms. The audio file is free for download and redistribution on Assata Shakur’s webpage.

Voices and sound samples from Italian youth from Napoli, Michael Brown, a.k.a. Big’Mike, Tyrone Harris, a.k.a. Ty Glocks, Lil Donkey Cartel, and Assata Shakur. Living in Cuba, Assata Shakur has been classified as a terrorist and put on the terrorism watch list.

The exhibition is supported by Norske Billedkunstnere (BNK), Norway

Tracklist

1 A mix of trap and drill

2 Street riots in Italy & the ‘Hippocampus Operation’ on a record

3 Donkey Cartel playing with a police radio mic

4 Ty Glocks rapping drunk and stoned

5 Assata Shakur about being shot

6 Assata Shakur about living life
7 Anonymous teenagers from Rione Traiano (Napoli, South Italy) rapping while stoned & sounds from the neighbourhood

8 Anonymous teenager dealing with the situation

9 Group of teenagers from Battipaglia (Salerno, South Italy) rapping on the street

10 Teenagers beatboxing at home
Voices and sound samples from Italian youth from Napoli, Tyrone Harris a.k.a. Ty Glocks, Lil Donkey Cartel, and Assata Shakur.

The banner belonged to a group of women activists called Donne in nero, in Italy. Part of an international action opposed to war, militarism and other forms of violence, the international movement started in the ’80s in Jerusalem to protest against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and is still active today in different parts of the world. After several confrontations with police, where the banner almost got destroyed, the textile piece is now archived and preserved at ‘The Archive for Social Movements’, in Genoa, Italy, (Associazione per un Archivio dei Movimenti), part of a relevant history of social rebellion.

mentioned by Nora Joung in Kunstkritikk