Pontis (2025)

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

"In Latin, 'Pontis' not only refers to a physical bridge, but also a metaphorical crossing - a psychological parallel between lived reality and its parallel, hyper-real counterpart. My work explores the threshold of human imagination, and the subtle ways our perceived reality changes when consuming art. When reading or listening to material, our psychic perception of reality changes: the environment doesn't disappear, but transforms.
"The piece ends in a rhythmic layered flurry of page-flicks coupled with solo pre-recorded harp material (at Trinity Laban, London), turning the field recording depicting a human action of flicking through a book, into something mechanical, experimental and post-human.
"The Bucherbogen bookstore recording is the perfect vehicle to deliver this auditory palimpsest. The mumbled low rumbling of trains acts as a bridge - a 'pontis' - between the outer reality, and the parallel reality that is being formed inside the bookstore. Berlin is the perfect place for such a sonic crossover: everyday life with electro-acoustic touches.
"I increased the presence of these distant rumbles through fragmentation and layering, then reinforced them with low-pitched pre-recorded electronic drones. This serves to merge the documentary-like quality of the field recording with a new sonic layer. The moments of chopped repeated singular sounds in the field recording (steps, book dropping), are complemented by pres-de-la-table harp singular sounds and added reverberation. This serves to de-contextualise the listener and introduce a new sonic reality.
"Chopped sections of recording involving voice are also repeated intentionally: This is then fused with speech from the recording studio at Trinity Laban, when recording the harp material. Speech, especially in the contrast of male (Bucherbogen recording) vs female (trinity harp recording) also adds another layer of duality here.
"The listener is trapped inside these two parallel realities: the Inner reality inside the bookstore (represented by the harp material and pre-recorded electronics), versus the outer, factual reality (represented by the field recording itself, with low rumbling of trains, dialogue, walking). The harp was the chosen acoustic presence because of longstanding musical associations with fantasy, mystery, and wonder, exactly the atmosphere I intended to evoke."
Buecherbogen bookstore, Berlin reimagined by David Balica.