Hugo Solís Garsia

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Hugo Solís Garsia

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Creators from abroad)
Activity Based	Mexico / United States
Period	2011.1 - 2011.3

Purpose of the residency

The purpose of this residency is continuing my research and project development in the field of "plurifocal" digital sound. The goal is to explore and produce sound art projects using distributed sound sources taking advantage of new technologies such as wireless communication, portable devices, and embedded systems.

Plan during the residency

During the residency I will continue developing my "plurifocal sound framework" that consists of custom software and hardware that allows the composition of interactive sound experiences distributed over big spaces. With it, I will produce sound experiences using the city as the poetic receptacle and resonator of the collaborative experience.

Residency Report
Research and overall activity for the project during the residency.
During the residency, I could focus in my artistic research related with plurifocal sound using digital and mechanical technologies. The idea was derived from my previous works using old pianos. It consolidated as a project on 2009 when I got a grant for getting the equipment and parts. During the residency at TWS I could fabricate the electronic circuits, write the code for the microcontrollers and the controlling software for the computer. I could also explore the sonorities of different locations and venues in the context of concerts and installations. Specifically the participation at the performance of Tokyo score by Toshi Ichiyanagi, the concert during the Tokyo Experimental Festival -Sound, Art & Performance Part 2, and also creating and showing the piece Colliding during the Exhibition Tokyo Story.

Research and overall activity for the project of which subject is related to "Tokyo", or to the city in which he stayed.
The work I am realizing since 2009 is related with the unique distinctions of each location. That is, my works explore the peculiarities and nuances of the place where it is performed or shown. In that way, the pieces exist and unfold based on the elements of each place. As an example we can see my contribution to the Final concert of the Ensemble Modern & Tokyo Wonder Site Academy at the Tokyo Women's Plaza Hall. The hall has a circular shape and all the walls are made of metal. The sonic properties of this hall are unique and my sonification of the space took advantage of the situation. The experience has trigger on me the idea of doing sonic experiences in bigger areas as such as the Yoyogi park.

About the cultural exchange he interacted during the residency.
As a Mexican artist visiting Asia for fist time, I can say that the cultural exchange I interacted during the residency was huge. As part of the residency I could maintain a creative and nurturing dialog with the Tokyo Wonder Site community including other art residents, staff, advisors, directors and art guests.
An important element during the residency was the daily live interaction with the other residents in all its variants, from the formal dialog during meetings and art collaborations, to the informal encounters in the form of dinners, drinks, walks, and short chats at the corridor. In other words, sharing the same space was a motivating experience.
The talks and constant visits from curators, critics, artists and members of the international cultural community like the members of the Ensemble Modern was without question a motivating experience that allowed to generate cultural exchange with people from several countries and backgrounds all worried about the art as a transformative experience.
Another very important factor for the cultural exchange to me was living the city in all its variants outside the art community. Going to museums and discover new artist -some of them from Japan-, taking the subway, going to the supermarket, walking the streets of the city, observing the routines of the people, shopping art materials, taking my son to the swimming pool was all together an experience that triggered a new way observe and ultimately living. The experience of being immerse in a new culture confronted my appreciation of live and detonated new ways of producing art.

How and in what way he achieved a result compared it with his original residency purpose and plan.
a) In terms of the production
In terms of production I did achieve my plans. I had the physical space, and mental concentration to focus on my project and being totally emerged in the logic and aesthetics of my work. During the daily working periods I had the peaceful space to work on the technical side of my work. During the restful moments I had the attention and mood to observe and discover the places and locations of the city with clear and open ears that allowed me to imagine and dream situations and context for my projects and artwork.
During the residency, in the technical side, I did an enormous progress on my current work by finishing the electronics, improving the software and doing testing of sonorities and sonic situations. I managed also to acquire the materials and tools required for my work easily and fast in the city. In the artistic side, the residency allows me to be predisposed to find any opportunity and situation as potential for my work. So for example, walking at the street, in the subway, in the art galleries, or at the park was always accompanied with the wondering about the possibilities of doing sonic interventions in such spaces and situations.

b) In terms of the cultural exchange
In terms of cultural exchange the achieved results exceed for much the initial expectations. Although I knew about Tokyo Wonder Site and its cultural exchange strategies I never ever could imagine the strong influence it would have over me. It may sound exaggerated but the experience changed my live in many ways. I had some time to discover some nuances of the Japanese culture and daily live customs that, in my opinion, we all should adopt to build a better society. I had the opportunity to interact with Japanese artists as well with artists from Holland, Switzerland, China, Spain, Turkey, United States, and Australia. As mention before, sharing the working and living space generated a synergy that would be difficult to achieve by other mediums. I have the impression that the contacts and relationships derived from the residence will remain in the long term.

How the residency experience has changed the way of his apprehension towards the role and the possibility of the Art.
I don't think the residency changed my apprehension towards the role and possibilities of the Art but it actually boost it. I already arrived to the residency with the strong ideal that Art is one of the few tools that societies have for transforming and enriching live. I am convinced that Art is an ideal medium for creating social integration, communion, and peaceful relationships. Art allows seeing and showing the work form different perspectives and focuses. In that way, it is thru art that we can live many lives.
From this standing point I could say that the residency confirmed, validate, and enhanced my ideas about the role of Art in our world and current society.

How and in what way the project he worked on during the residency will develop ffurther from now on.
As an emerging artist trying to improve and work constantly all the time, it is always hard to segment or mark periods in a constant work in progress. However, I can say that the residency gave the mental time to actually materialize an idea I had for a long time. Producing finally the first works using my plurifocal system detonated several works. The work created during the residency will be developed at the piece about Sea Sounds to be produced during the summer of this year in Seattle USA. It will be also used as part of the PhD final project at the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media, and also at the piece to be shown at the Transitio MX festival in September of this year at Mexico City.

Creator Information