Luca Cerizza, Çağla IlkMusic of Fears

As early as Pythagoras, and later Johannes Kepler, thinkers and scientists imagined the universe as a harmonious interplay of tones inaudible to the ear, yet perceptible to the soul. This utopian idea continues to resonate today: from Hindemith to minimalist composers up to contemporary pop icons such as Björk and Coldplay, artists across centuries have been fascinated by the concept of the universe as an instrument playing a “music of spheres”.

Under the sense of insecurity created by environmental disasters, massive migratory movements, increasing technological uncertainties, limitations of personal freedoms and war threats, today’s world seems to produce more cacophonies and dissonances than perfect pitches. Did the music of spheres turn into a “music of fears”, transforming the utopic into dystopic?

Music of Fears is a project curated by Luca Cerizza and Çağla Ilk. It will adopt different languages, formats and venues, popping up with no temporal coherence into Maxim Gorki’s program. Sound and video installations, exhibitions, sound performances, concerts, lectures, lecture-performances and round tables will be part of the program. Sound and music are investigated in their capacity to express a condition of anxiety, of “real” and purposely induced fear.

The first episode in the series will focus on the use of voice (human, animal, mechanical, hybrid) as a primary and primordial form of expression. The prejudices historically related to the female voice, the struggle to express through language in the face of drama and loss, the rhetoric power of the voice, the animal voice as epitome of the unknown and the dangerous, are some of the issues that will be addressed in a variety of forms through a three-days program.