soundpedro 2021 participation: June 5th Audioscapes
orbit

Joshua Elza Breen-Tucci (b. 1991- Denver, CO) is an intermedia visual artist and musician currently based in Los Angeles, CA. Through a particular focus on sound, electronics and digital media, josh’s work explores human-technology relations and an expanded notion of augmented reality relating to the real-world and cognitive augmentation imposed by media, technology and material culture.

Artist Location: Burbank, CA
Social Media: Instagram

Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2021:
orbit
"orbit" is a 4-channel surround sound installation built around field recordings collected at multiple Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles from the summer of 2020 layered beneath synthesized helicopter sounds. In addition to responding to the specific moment from which it originate, the work subjectively deals with police militarization and surveillance. In creating the work I was interested in how sound acts on space, how the reverberations of helicopter blades create sonic enclosures influencing otherwise neutral environments into becoming inhospitable and hostile. I was also interested in how combat and police service equipment acts on the operator’s body. Though the work is meant to surround the listener, entrapping them within the helicopter’s surveillance, in framing the helicopter simulation against my protest recordings the work also fixes the audience’ gaze on the protestors, blurring the delineation between them and the helicopter as their sonic vision is smeared and distorted by its influence.

My proposal is for a new iteration of "orbit". While the original took the form of a 4-minute recording, this second iteration will be of variable duration and generated in real time using custom software. While the meaning and affect of this new work will be consistent with it's predecessor, my hope is that these proposed changes allow for deeper audience immersion by introducing a subtle element of chance and eliminating the break between loop cycles.