artist:
location: 2FOLD
A performance conceived as a live duet for two large-scale hydraulic sound sculptures arranged in a mirrored configuration. Developed in collaboration between Vica Pacheco and Loto Retina, the piece explores sound as a result of physical processes rather than fixed musical notation. Drawing inspiration from pre-Columbian whistling vessels, the work speculates on forgotten or unknown sonic technologies. Sound emerges acoustically from the interaction of water, air, pressure, gravity, and time – without amplification or digital mediation. Through continuous modulation, the two sculptures enter a dialogue: mirrored yet never identical.
Vica Pacheco is a Brussels-based artist. Her multidisciplinary practice spans experimental music composition, ceramics, and 3D animation. Her work, often described as eclectic and energetic, explores mythological crossbreeding and interactions between human and non-human. She employs a syncretic approach, blending archaic, and contemporary technologies with heterogeneous elements to create immersive sound performances and installations.
Self-described as “gnom ’n’ bass,” it is not so far-fetched to imagine Loto Retina as some fantastical creature who just happened to wander into this mortal realm, and their songs don’t do a lot to refute this possibility. Their high-fructose music combines micro-sample chaos and gloopy bass with unpredictable percussion to create a congregation of organic and mechanical sounds. While there is a digitality to Loto Retina’s sound, sometimes resembling a pleasantly malfunctioning robot, it also holds an animistic and feral quality: this is music that growls as much as it grooves.