𝓇𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒𝓈

• 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗣𝗗𝗙 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘁 • 

For its third release, forms of minutiae presents ‘possible moistures’ a non-profit compilation of field recordings and soundscape compositions derived from various aqueous environments and their autochthons. 

This gathering is made of 16 sonic encounters collected by field recordists and sound artists across the world. Artists were invited to submit sounds from marine and aquatic-related events, phenomena, geologies, fauna, flora, geographies, and technologies. From the thawing acoustics of Icelandic and Antarctic glaciers to the non-human voices of Australian wetlands, while meeting sea and river dwellers, the listeners embark on a sonic journey across the globe’s possible moistures. 

All proceeds from this release will be donated to the organisation Atelier Bleu - Centre Permanent d'Initiatives pour l'Environnement de la Côte Provençale to support them in their aim to conserve and protect Posidonia Oceanica seagrass species and to accompany ecological transitions on the Mediterranean coastal lands of the Côte Provençale (France) by encouraging eco-responsible behaviour through education, training and awareness actions. They especially work closely with the region’s youth to raise their environmental awareness by offering workshops and activities to discover the maritime and terrestrial environments: underwater snorkelling trails, guided walks, etc. 

This compilation has been made available to the Atelier Bleu as a resource which they can present to the children as part of their educational workshops. 

> more visual and textual info about each contribution available in the PDF or by clicking on them above. 

> Atelier Bleu: www.cpie-coteprovencale.org  

PDF → texts and pictures by each artist - unless mentioned otherwise
cover picture by stéphane marin 
curated by mathieu bonnafous and pablo diserens 
forms of minutiae — fom03 — 2021

pdf & digital

pablo diserens — tidal dwellers

Published on @audiovisualsatmosphere [cassette / digital - 2022]

Originally conceived and shown as a sound installation, "dusk — dawn" invites the audience to listen to a city from dusk to dawn by embodying a figure who wanders from one acoustic encounter to another. What happens to the urban soundscape once its human population is asleep? Putting the emphasis on the little heard sounds of a city, this field recording composition allows listeners to dive in buildings’ drafts, bats’ calls, empty train stations’ ultrasounds, singing escalators, talking swans, humming electrical junction boxes, and
birds’ dawn choruses. Documentary at times, surreal at others, the piece proposes an electroacoustic excursion by mixing and processing a set of sounds recorded at night in the city of Berlin during the lockdown and curfew period of spring 2021.

Recorded and composed by Pablo Diserens
in Berlin, Germany — June 2021

Recorded with Sound Devices MixPre-6 II, Sony PCM-D100, LOM's Usi Pro, and LOM's Geofón

Mastered by Adam Badí Donoval

Pablo Diserens – dusk — dawn [AVA99]

Out on Presque Tout: www.presquetout.bandcamp.com

It is a drenched afternoon in Alto Adige as a storm plunges the Eisack Valley in a thick fog. The sky is cadenced by distant thunderbolts and the soundscape swallowed by cold downpours. Sitting on the flank of a mountain, Hotel Briol faces the Dolomites while overlooking the small town of Barbiano. By a window of the hotel, a radio aerial stands in the rain, its rods plucked by drizzling drops. To naked ears only the showers' white noise prevails, yet within the array of metal conductors lies the discreet music of antennas.

Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre-6 II
Microphones: a pair of JrF C-series (neutrik) contact microphones

the discreet music of antennas (Barbiano, IT) [Presque Tout, 2022]

forms of minutiae presents 'live at kwia’, a fragment of a recorded electroacoustic performance by field recordist and artist @pablodiserens

→ f-o-m.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-kwia

Amid winter, on one of the last nights of 2021, a group of people gather in the welcoming womb of a listening bar. Bordered by tiled walls and embraced by a simulated fog, cradled listeners soon forgo outer fluctuations. From a distance, dogs’ barks and bats’ calls reverberate into the space, Pablo Diserens’ concert has begun. What unfolds next is a weaving of biophonic field recordings with hums of blown and stroke glass bottles. The emerging electroacoustic ecoscape oscillates between animal stridulations and Helmholtz resonances. Wavering wind pulses and mirroring clangs intertwine with ultrasonic drones bringing the audience into oneiric realms. Ants, grasshoppers, and crickets infuse the room with vespertine warmth. Windows ooze with condensation. Winter seems far, as if morphed into a balmy summer night. A new landscape materializes, birthed by the set of frequencies at play. Buccal air gently throbs in and out of the glass vessels in glistening gestures. Pablo blows into their empty bottles one last time before handing the stage to a sizzling underwater mixture of rain drops and insectean accents. 

The recorded fragment stops here, yet, that night, the formed sonic window into this temporary landscape pursued its course. The auditory encounters that followed now only exist in the hazy memories of wintertide listeners. 

~ 

Pablo Diserens (they/she) is a field recordist, musician and artist devoted to non-human realities, attentive listening, and possible forms of interspecies coexistence. In solidarity with a wounded planet, their practice invites people to attune to the present moment in an attempt at rethinking caring strategies and our relationship with the world and its biotic communities. → www.pablodiserens.studio 

• 

performed live by pablo diserens for 'weich', a queer ambient event series at kwia (berlin) in december 2021. 

photograph and design by pablo diserens 
mastered by mathieu bonnafous 
duration — 34'22'' 
tape production by tapedub (berlin) 
performing photograph by Elisa Cucinelli 
published by forms of minutiae — fom04 — 2022

cassette & digital

pablo diserens — live at kwia [fom04]

CS/DL : f-o-m.bandcamp.com/album/upstream-ensemble

@forms-of-minutiae and TBA21–Academy present "upstream ensemble", a communal happening and aqueous sound piece initiated and composed by field recordist, artist, and f–o–m co-founder Pablo Diserens (@pablodiserens)

During the 2022/23 digital residency hosted by TBA21–Academy’s Ocean-Archive.org, Pablo Diserens launched an open call inviting members of its online platform ocean comm/uni/ty (and external enthusiasts) to venture into the world and record aqueous sonic encounters. The aim of this collective liquid attuning was to gather sound recordings from various wet ecologies while stimulating listening and field recording gestures regardless of any previous experience.

Recordings from 35 contributors were woven into the long-form sound composition "upstream ensemble" which navigates between the multiplicity of the water cycle as a sounding body. The work moves upstream through oceans, rivers, pipe networks, ponds, and glaciers while investigating the continuous flow of water and the environments that surround it. Listeners encounter drifting habitats trickling with the songs of sea lions, dolphins, blue whales, humpback whales, Arctic terns, and algae photosynthesis – as well as with the invasive hums of submarines’ sonars, boats, and naval industries. With "upstream ensemble" some of the world’s aqueous fauna, flora, geologies, and technologies mingle into a synchronized motion that documents the sonic articulations of these wet zones.

In resonance with Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening practice and inspired by Rachel Carson’s exploration of the intertidal zone in her book "The Edge of the Sea", this project contributes to an ever-expanding list of works that propose a focus on listening as a way of engaging and existing with the planet’s waters. By stimulating shared listening and attuning practices, Pablo Diserens aims to develop a sense of interconnectedness by blurring the boundaries between species as well as environments. Experiencing aqueous biomes both individually and collectively acts as a way of rethinking our relationships with the world. Despite these being mostly solitary experiences, Pablo believes that field recording and listening are communal and environmental practices that form gateways for earthly synchronicity and world mapping in time and space. Thus listening in turn can become a political act that sparks emotional bonds with the world and its biotic communities.

˜

concept: Pablo Diserens and Fiona Middleton (TBA21–Academy)

composition and mixing: Pablo Diserens

with sound contributions by: Alëna Korolëva, Alexandros Maragkoudakis, Bence Kovács-Vajda, Christopher Dean, Cyane Findji, Damian Pace, Elise Rigot, Eliza Collin, Fiona Middleton, Francesco Previtali, Ilù Seydoux, Irene Mansoldo, Isabel Val, Jakob Köchert, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, Joana Moher, Katy Lewis Hood, Kosmas Phan Dinh, Kseniya Lushnikova, Leo Maassen, Ludwig Berger, Mat Eric Hart, Mathias Arrignon, Matty Yeomans, Mélia Roger, Moritz Zeisner, Nikos Sotirelis, Nina Blume, Ocean Networks Canada, Pablo Diserens, Sem Zeeman, Slavek Kwi, Surrealich, Thibault Noirot, Varoujan Cheterian.

all profit of the release will be donated to the Blue Marine Foundation.

listening with good speakers or headphones is recommended as the piece features a large range of frequencies (notably blue whales' subsonic calls).

cassette mastering by Mathieu Bonnafous

graphic design by Cecilia Murgia

cassettes pictures by Camille Blake

duration: 30’29’’ — C60
piece repeats on both sides — limited edition of 100
published by forms of minutiae & TBA21–Academy — fom09 — 2023

special thanks to all the contributors, Fiona Middleton, Markus Reymann, Michal Kucerak, Petra Linhartova, TBA21, Madelyn Byrd, Diane Barbé, Lou Croff Blake, Thom Lucero, and Mélia Roger.

pablo diserens & the ocean comm/uni/ty — upstream ensemble [fom09]

"waterlilies in fontiform" [framework editions, 2023] 🪷

Such an honor to be part of framework radio’s seasonal issues with a new piece of fontiform music! 

> listen/download: frameworkeditions.bandcamp.com/album/framework-seasonal-issue-14-summer-2023

Thought as a continuation of the work "for scarpa's fountains” [forms of minutiae, 2020], the composition "waterlilies in fontiform" weaves field recordings made in, on, and around the Tomba Brion in San Vito d'Altivole. Designed by the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa in the 70s, this burial ground materializes as a garden guided by a multitude of lines made of concrete, metal, marble, and glass. Yet as one wanders in this peculiar landscape, one soon realizes that concrete isn’t the tomb’s primary material, water is. As if submerged, the graves are encircled by basins interconnected by a network of fountains, rivulets, and pipes. Water striders, sporadic frogs, vibrant fish and tapestries of waterlilies glide over sunken pyramidal stepped edges, echoing ruins of bygone architectures. An aqueous rhizome at the heart of the garden which steers us through the whole sanctuary. The composition brings listeners into the various materialities of the space and the underwater hums of the fontiform network's machinery. Moreover, subtle algae photosynthesis, muffled voices of human visitors, and the garden's avian inhabitants infuse with life the architect's carefully organized matter. Ambiguous feelings arise as if perched in equilibrium on the crests of the tomb's multifarious structures. The piece ends with openings (both geographical and temporal) as the uncanny murmurs of the flowing waters are joined by the drones of another (temporary) Venetian fountain, Claire Tabouret's sculpture "Deux Baigneuses'', before fading into the vespertine soundscape of a small Portuguese village. A midwife toad calls in the darkness, bells resound in a valley, as Brion Tomb’s architectonic specter lingers in the flowing waters.

> Note: Tomba Brion is also the resting place of Scarpa himself, who shared that "the place for the dead is a garden".

> Recorded in the Tomba Brion in Altivole (april 2022), Palazzo Cavanis in Venice (april 2022), and in Peneda-Gerês National Park (may 2023).
Recorded with Aquarian H2a-XLR hydrophone, LOM Uši Pro, LOM Geofón, SoundDevices MixPre-6 II, Sony PCM-D100.

download

waterlilies in fontiform [framework editions]

recording taken from the album 'on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs' released on https://soundcloud.com/sonospace

more info: https://pablodiserens.studio/on-australian-shores

periwinkles

bellbirds of wapengo lake

3e Prix — 3rd Prize, présenté par Avatar Centre & 60 Sec Radio (500 $ CAD) Intertidal Zone… (Allemagne) par/by Pablo Diserens 
« Un magicien de l’apnée sonore et qui capte les moindres bruissements de deux mondes qui se côtoient, superposés. | An underwater and sonic magician, who can enjoy the best of both worlds. » Boris Chassagne
« Un paysage sonore minutieux doté d’une grande finesse. Élégant! | A very delicate and intricate soundscape that plays a lot on texture. Elegant! » Paul Charpentier « Soulever le murmure fin. | Raise the fine whisper ». Simon Elmaleh
 « Pablo Diserens nous extirpe de la terreur médiatique du confinement pour nous faire retrouver les bruissements du monde. | Pablo Diserens takes us out of the media terror of confinement and takes us to the rustling of the world ». Marc Jacquin 
« Il est délicieux d’écouter Intertidal Zone, en seulement quelques secondes nous devenons étoile de mer, oursin, partie du paysage sonore, et portés à des sentiments d’une subtilité que seule une attention aussi délicate à la nature peut évoquer. | Intertidal Zone is a moment of delicious communion with the seaworld : what a delicate sensibility towards nature and the flow of living things must have presided over the birth of this piece! » Zoé Paquin-Gagnon
::: Synopsis/Resume/Descripción : This short field recordings composition invites the listeners to dive in the intertidal zone's soundscape. Once submerged, one can discover the sounds of sea urchins and periwinkles recorded with hydrophones.

3e Prix/3rd Prize Pablo Diserens - Intertidal Zone

forms of minutiae is pleased to share its first release — 'for scarpa’s fountains' by field recordist and composer Pablo Diserens (@pablodiserens). 

'for scarpa’s fountains' is an ode to Carlo Scarpa’s carefully organized matter and instinctive approach to raw elements and their coexistence with water. In resonance with the architect's work, Diserens blends field recordings gathered in the Venetian city and Scarpa’s spaces — such as sounds of fountains from the Fondazione Querini Stampalia and the Giardino delle sculture — with drone and rhythmical improvisations on cymbals and glass. This 25-minute long piece is divided into three distinct parts, each investigating various structures, materials, and memories. The two firsts segments are direct tributes to the architect in which Diserens uses copper and glass as compositional tools to create imaginary spaces that translate the subtleties of Scarpa’s forms through circular drones and transients ballets. As one wanders through these sonic rooms, or perhaps gardens, one also hears the long chants of cicadas and faint murmurs of passing visitors guided by the fountains’ drizzles. In the last section, listeners emerge from these architectonic apparitions with a surreal soundscape of Venice at dawn. Seagulls cry in unison from a sleeping city’s roofs, while a lonely figure drags a suitcase on the stone pavement unveiling the street’s relief and narrowness. The piece comes to an end as it dives back into Scarpa’s dripping waters. 

'for scarpa’s fountains' celebrates the juxtaposition of various (sonic) materials that produce triggering patterns of (acoustic) memory. 


Pablo Diserens is an acoustic ecologist, field recordist and composer based in Berlin who engages with various topo- and phonographies with a wide range of visual and sonic recording techniques. 
— website: https://pablodiserens.studio

pablo diserens - for scarpa's fountains [fom01]

tuned to various biomes and phonographies 𓆏
> www.pablodiserens.studio
> co-founder @forms-of-minutiae

Pablo Diserens (they/them) is a field recordist, musician and artist devoted to non-human realities, attentive listening, and possible forms of interspecies coexistence.