artist:
location: Le poids de la journée
Le poids de la journée is a performance for the human body, reel-to-reel tape recorders, and magnetic audio tape. These elements intertwine in a closed system where recorders and tape become extensions of the body, while the body acts as a stopping force, preventing playback. The work visualizes the transformation of bodily energy into the mechanical energy of the recorders’ capstan motors, manifesting as sound. It sonifies the “fight for” and exchange of energy within an internal system composed of the human body and mechanical analog machines. The sonic material on the tape is forcefully restrained by the performer’s body, preventing playback until the body becomes exhausted and gives up. At that moment, the sound and the tape break free – briefly – before being torn and destroyed by the tape recorders.
Augustė Vickunaitė is a sound experimentalist who employs vintage reel-to-reel tape recorders to play, record, and create sounds, articulating diverse layers of recordings including found material, field recordings, voice, music instruments, objects, and the whole spectrum of malfunctions of decaying technology. She specializes in tape, noise, and collage music, known for her theatrical and darkly humorous approach, often exploiting errors of analog audio equipment.