What I am Reading Now…
Maria Chávez
December 2023

The readings I’ve been looking into are more essays than books, as they feature my work. 

Seven years after her passing, Pauline Oliveros continues to be celebrated for her pioneering work in improvisation and listening. Recently her written works were welcomed into the New York Public Library’s permanent collection. The Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer created a year long work in her memory, A Year of Deep Listening which posted a different text score online each day by artists around the world for 365 days. The centre has now compiled all the text scores to be included in a book of 365 text scores gathered in celebration of the legacy of Deep Listening. I’m honoured to be included in the book, making a score for remembering.

While I was in Houston this past Spring to install and perform for my solo exhibition, Absorption Sculpture, 2023 I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new young artists that are currently living there. I hadn’t been home in over 6 years so it was special to connect with this important arts community. I met Sofia K. Bernstein, a scientist who also works as a performing artist in Houston, who’s work in science research focuses on the vocals of Tibetan Macaques. She has tons of field recordings of these vocals, and has used some of them in her performances. It’s really brilliant work. She recently wrote a fascinating paper about her research findings on the The Vocal Repertoire of Tibetan Macaques which is considered a quantitative classification of the species. I’m hoping to have these recordings cut into a lathe so I can perform the calls in my performances too.

Caleb Kelly has been writing about the glitch and sound art for many years. His book Cracked Media is considered the go to reference when discussing technical glitches as performance or art. He recently finished a paper on vinyl records in Sound Art, Records Reformed and Reused. Nostalgic and Ecological Concerns in Contemporary Media Art. Including the works of Graham Dunning and myself, Caleb writes an excellent break down of this niche genre that looks at vinyl in the sense of recycling.

The book I always reach for when it’s time to relax is one my mother got for me when we visited Machu Picchu together 8 years ago. She told me that every Peruvian reads this book in school and that I should also learn about our ancestry, the Comentarios Reales de los Incas. The book by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega is considered the only eyewitness account of the Incan Empire during its peak and demise through colonisation. Inca Garcilaso was the son of a Spanish General and an Incan Princess, allowing him to see both sides of the change of power. He survived 2 trips to Spain from Peru, which in the 1400’s was no easy feat. Reading about the lush landscape, magnificently dressed Incans covered in gold, the conflicts and cold heart of destroying a culture gives me new insight into the past of my family. And since the Spanish destroyed any other account of this time this is the only story we Peruvians have to learn about our past.

Sara Auster created a brilliant recording work of singing bowls, recorded and mastered by my friend Phil Moffa. Asleep/ Awake is a brilliant work with gorgeous tones that are so fun to mess with as a turntablist. I have five copies of this album and I love to perform with four of them at the same time as a durational drone work. This way I extend the album that due to being a particular media, has finite timing. Layering the tones in different directions and speeds along with using my double needles to add more sonic layer in real time is one of my favourite works to perform. For the regular listener, it’s a soothing record.