THE VOICE OF THE SEA

Óscar Octavio “Ukumari” (BO), Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, Porto Seguro, Bahia (BR)

POSTCITY, First Floor, European Platform for Digital Humanism
STARTS Prize 2019 Honorary Mentions

A voz do mar

This installation is a contact-sensitive fishing net that can be “played” to evoke a sonic landscape. It is made out of a fishing net found abandoned on the seashore during Ukumari’s residency in the Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community and has been adapted to function as an electronic musical instrument that offers a poetic means of getting to the “heart” of the Pataxó community. The eerie “underwater” music that it makes when visitors interact with it is a response to the fact that the word Pataxó (pronounced pa-ta-show) is an onomatopoeia for the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. Thus the sonic landscape transports visitors to the Pataxó community, its natural environment and its culture.

THE VOICE OF THE SEA/Óscar Octavio “Ukumari” (BO), Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, Porto Seguro, Bahia (BR), Credit: Óscar Octavio “Ukumari”, Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, Porto Seguro

THE VOICE OF THE SEA/Óscar Octavio “Ukumari” (BO), Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, Porto Seguro, Bahia (BR), Credit: Óscar Octavio “Ukumari”, Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, Porto Seguro

 

Project Credits

  • Óscar Octavio “Ukumari,” Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia
  • The Pataxó de Barra Velha community, Porto Seguro, Bahia

Biography:

Óscar Octavio “Ukumari”
From Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia. Sound artist. BA in sculpture and new media. MA in higher education and practice-based research from the University of Barcelona. Residency with the Pataxó de Barra Velha Indigenous community, municipality of Porto Seguro, Bahia, 9-20 July 2018.
https://www.ozzoukumari.com