published on
By Juan Ibrahim
Read by Daniel Villegas and Amanda Kinepkamp
(A side)
And after any possible origin or destiny,
the bridge disappeared from the urban network.
One day at midday all its heavy body, its humming process of construction,
and its social hopes and misfortunes were miniaturized and absorbed into the latent existence of every sonic being.
As another mythological animal,
the bridge began to go around different places and landscapes, when it was named through stories. And as soon as people with two middle ears began to listen to it, their need for finding a stable dichotomy in those stories, put into evidence the undomesticated hunger of that jaguar:
“My food goes out from my mouth,
and my words wrap this body and the ground touched by my claw”
sang the jaguar.
Its roar fertilized some water meters and doorknobs through its permeable and ubiquitous nature.
It also blushed the pale hands of some people.
Beam Jaguar, Truss Jaguar,
Cantilever Jaguar, Arch Jaguar,
Tied Arch Jaguar, Suspension Jaguar,
Cable-Stayed Jaguar, Double-Decked Jaguar,
and Three way Jaguars populated the last imageless world.
The sun set,
and once again the fog covered the shore.
Another day.
Another night.
I can see people going from one place to another, crossing what is inaccessible and making their lives with what is accessible to them.
I can listen to that Jaguar frozen in time,
as a bridge biting one side of the land
and voicing the other.
(B side)
Steel manufacturing absorbs metal from its relation to the earth
later to be sutured back together by hands for feet
waiting to sound from hands again.
* * *
The piece includes field recording sounds, acoustic instruments (Turkish Ney and Harp), electronic instruments (Fretless Bass and MiniMoog), and spoken word. This project developed affinities and con-sonances between these sonic objects and the overtones coming out from the steel of two specific bridges located in Philadelphia: The Generational Bridge at Penn Campus, and the Strawberry Mansion Bridge.
This project shared creative actions and ideas with Jairo Moreno, Andrew Lamas, URBS 405 SPRING CLASS, Amanda Prager, Seth Schimmel, Amanda Kniepkamp, and Daniel Villegas.
Presented at CRANE ARTS, Philadelphia. 2015.
- Genre
- Sound