SUPERIMPOSITION explores the concept of earworms—those sonic agents that coercively graft themselves onto the brain until they become parasites and provoke mechanisms of cognitive control. Already known at the end of the 19th century, the phenomena were later defined as “brainworms” by Oliver Sacks. Sound worms are linked to mass culture such as pop music, advertisements, video games and TV theme songs. They also inhabit airports, bars, shops, gyms and shopping centers, and are characterized by sequences of redundant melodies that are difficult to escape. Recognizing these mechanisms is complex, due to a weak, if not absent, general education in listening. Based on this research, SUPERIMPOSITION launched a data analysis of more than 10,000 music tracks featured in the popular international charts from 2000 to 2022. This analysis—which is based on the quantity and repetitiveness of the music—has been automated with a specially developed software. Algorithms and data analysis techniques were used to select the most characteristic lyrics. Their mathematically generated superimposition composes the work.
SUPERIMPOSITION—a composition in which no melody is recognizable. The work is conceived as a performative act, a fashion show that recalls ancient rituals in which the performers and the audience become a single body on stage. The garments made of sound-absorbing fabrics, which look like sculptural dresses, have been presented in a fashion show-like choreography. The textile materials, identified with the technical-scientific support of the Politecnico di Torino, are capable of refracting and absorbing sound pressure. These armored suits are designed as empirical protections for the ear and the body. The fashion design of the garments has been developed with the MARIOS brand through shared experimentation and a creative contamination that intends to look from the avant-garde supremacist models to the oriental tradition. The scenic and sound dramaturgy of the performance, which was presented in the Great Hall of the historic Cercle Cit in Luxembourg at the end of April, has also been interpreted in the video work realized through its multi-point direction.
Bios
-
Photo: PolisonumPOLISONUM
IT
Polisonum (Filippo Lilli, Donato Loforese) is a collective that uses sound as an investigative method and tool to explore processes and metamorphoses related to the present time. They create sound installations and performances in dialogue with visual language. Thanks to their hybrid identity, which brings together multiple disciplines, they build projects that rely on a dense practice of study and analysis with the aim of experiencing active listening and visualization. Polisonum has been invited to various institutions and festivals: MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art (RM), A Breath of Art (AV), Fondazione Volume (RM), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (CH), Palazzo Altemps (RM), Palazzo Pallavicini (BO), Romaeuropa Festival (RM), OTO Sound Museum Zurich (CH) among others.
Credits
POLISONUM: Filippo Lilli, Donato Loforese
Co-curators: Francesca Ceccherini, Anastasia Chaguidouline
Data Curator: Elisa Bernardoni Fashion Design: MARIOS Collective
Research of material and phono-resistance: Marco Carlo Masoero, Louena Shtrepi, Politecnico di Torino, DENERG
Scientific support: Francesco Nucci, Neuroscientist
Video work in collaboration with :
Antonio Antonacci
Performers : Arianna Balestrieri, Vera Borghini, Erica Bravini, Luca della Corte, Alex Paniz, Michael Incarbone, Valentina Sansone
Photo documentation : Axel Crettenand
SUPERIMPOSITION is supported by
The Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (2023) and IIC – Istituto Italiano Di Cultura A Vienna
