Sonata for a crisis is a collaborative project between visual artist Soledad Pinto and musician Roberto Garretón. It is an audio piece that emerges from the assemblage of the recorded sound of numerous walks developed following diverse trajectories by and through Santiago de Chile. Each recording gives account of the movement and frictions of a body: the pace, discomfort and difficulties when wandering around.

The piece aims to connect the ideas of walking and crisis as moments that leave profound imprints, as events that allow detours and the dislocation of planned trajectories to emerge, and the encounter with a number of interferences/obstructions/noises. The final musical composition tries to capture a kind of universality of the crisis phenomenon, aiming to explore and expand something close to a “sound model” for the concept.

The musical beat of Soledad’s walking pace is the material used by Roberto to compose that “model”. Though it is true that our steps respond to a certain rhythm and learned discipline, Sonata for a crisis explores the very tension between that habitus and the potential indiscipline of walking itself.

Sonata for a Crisis can be listened here:

Please, use headphones to be able to hear all the nuances of the piece.

Catalog (PDF 2MB)
Cordero, R. y Mascareño, A. (2017). Estéticas de la Crisis. Modelos de mundos posibles. Santiago: Editorial Recrea Libros.

Sonata for a crisis (2016)
Soledad Pinto & Roberto Garretón
Audio installation, loop 11’49’’
Santiago, Chile
Matucana 100, November 2016

Pictures © Yanira Tala