Luca Forcucci - Not (so) Human

The foundational material for this electroacoustic composition is rooted in long-term fieldwork conducted in Southern and Western Africa. The sonic material is based on three instruments, a Kalimba and a Kudu Horn, both acquired during a visit to an archive of Sub-Saharan recorded music in South Africa in 2023 and a mamokhorong from Lesotho crafted in Berlin. I played and recorded these instruments and blended them with live electronics. This synthesis of acoustic and electronic elements involves artificial agents bridging ancestral knowledge and modern technology, inviting reflections on how such agents can shape our future sonic landscapes, enhance our perception and propose the conceptual idea of augmentation. This composition synthesizes fieldwork, traditional instruments, and machine learning systems into a cohesive musical narrative. This approach resonates with Achille Mbembe’s assertion that “we must take on the neuro-turn and accept that we are all cyborgs now, this also presents an opportunity to employ African knowledges to rethink sthe human” (Mbembe 2021).

Biography
Luca Forcucci‘s work includes numerous music compositions and collaborations with musicians, dancers, and poets. His interest relates to live electronic improvisation, electroacoustic music, experimental and audiovisual projects. His portfolio focuses on large scale sonic and visual installations, and long-term collaboration with neuroscience to investigate profound mental imageries triggered by his work. His research involves, too, transcultural dialogues through field work in Southern and Western Africa, and Brazil for the combination of ancestral technologies and knowledge with contemporary ones. He studied electroacoustic music with Swiss composer Rainer Boesch. Al Comet, former member of The Young Gods, produced his early work. He went to the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and the Limpopo Region in South Africa for field recordings with biologist and composer Francisco López. His music is released on Subrosa, Cronica Electronica, Glistening Examples and among many others. The works are regularly presented in contexts like Akademie der Künste Berlin 2024, New York Experimental Intermedia Festival 2023 (on the invitation of Phill Niblock), Cyfest Festival 2022 Yerevan, International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA) 2022 Barcelona, Ars Electronica Linz
2021, Museo Reina Sofia Madrid 2020, New York Electroacoustic Music Festival 2020, Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo Palermo 2019, ISEA 2018 Durban, Festival Ciclo de Música Contemporânea Salvador de Bahia 2018.
www.lucaforcucci.com

With support of Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council

Photo by Ignacio Aronovich