I think it is nice to share this new short documentary about the project INTIMAL: Interfaces for Relational Listening – Body, Memory, Migration, Telematics today on 8 March. This project ran from 2017 to 2019 at RITMO, under the direction of sound artist Ximena Alarcon. It was funded by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant from the EU, and I was fortunate enough to mentor the project.
The main aim of INTIMAL was to explore the body as an “interface” for keeping and transforming the memory of place in migratory contexts. This was done through the development and exploration of a physical-virtual “embodied system” for relational listening. The short documentary excellently describes the project and explains its outcomes.
INTIMAL Documentary 2021 from Ximena Alarcón on Vimeo.
Some more information about the project from the INTIMAL web page:
The project invites people to listen to their migrations, in order to expand their sense of place and sense of presence. In its first stage, Ximena proposes two questions: 1) how the body becomes an interface that keeps memory of place, and 2) how to improvise and transmit the experience of an embodied migratory journey using non-screen based interfaces. As a case study, she involved Colombian women who have migrated to European countries, in the exploration of their migratory journeys, via listening, improvised voice and body movement, in co-located and telematic settings. She used Deep Listening practice and Embodied Music Cognition methods to develop the INTIMAL System: a physical-virtual “embodied” system for Relational Listening, to be used in telematic sonic performance, in the context of human migration.