This sound work was conceived in a particularly difficult period: the pandemic caused by the so-called COVID-19 and its almost planetary consequences. It arises in the forced confinement of the author on account of it, but in contrast to that situation it is articulated as a sound journey through environments and atmospheres of places as distant from each other as Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Bogota, Mexico City, Graz, Guanajuato, Madrid, Las Palmas, Seville, Shanghai or Turin. Hence its title: Immobile Journey.

The piece arises in a unique time in which we simultaneously live a global problem and the media the reactions that it provokes, to which we provide our own response. The author has collected some of the sound realities of the comings and goings that adjectivize this unique time, in a story to be heard, in a composition that is almost like a game of mirrors.

Throughout this sixteen-minute journey, our ears enter busy markets, move around in trams from different cities, hear the ringing of bells or are assaulted by the ringtones of mobile phones that nobody picks up. We also travel through silence, deep noises, the atmosphere of police surveillance in the streets, we are introduced to the atmosphere in an ICU, we hear the applause of the citizens to the health services, the rumour of the subway.

Some of these sequences, personal or external, have been collected during the days of confinement. The short texts read by virtual announcers were published on Facebook during this period: some provide critical reflections and others a certain ironic distension. Technically, the mixing, editing and electronic transformations of some materials have been used.

Recordings made by the author in different places and times have been used, as well as sounds downloaded from the Internet, original music and brief sound sequences contributed by dear colleagues of sound art: Luis Barrie, Rubén Barroso, José Manuel Berenguer, Rilo Chmielorz, Jorge Gómez, Emiliano López Rascón and Ward Weis. The percussionist was Pilar Subirà.

You can find more information about José Iges here