Lara Alarcón: PROTESIS II (VQ)

Short Description / Kurzbeschreibung

PRÓTESIS II is the follow-up of PRÓTESIS a piece for solo amplified-processed voice and video, part of Alarcón series called VQ.

VQ was developed as a series of pieces for stage voice based on the concept of prosthetic dialectics. This term is taken from mental health in which we convey the need of humans for support in a retroactive relation. Taking the concept of prosthetics as a way to understand the incompleteness of our individual beings, we compose ourselves in a variety of ways including the relying-on and support-of other individuals, objects or sounds.

In PRÓTESIS the artist not only relies on devices (amplifiers, electronics, pedals) to amplify meaning and gestures, but also a duplicated live camera to capture the symbiotic relation of the instrument and instrumentalist. All these culminate in PRÓTESIS II with the search for greater expansion through the sounds of another instrument/instrumentalist, which opens a new dialectic: Object-subject, irl-digital, individual-collective. This piece looks for a minimum but wider semantic significance in order to reach the audience’s sensibility through loudness, feedback in sound and image and the very stage presence of the composer herself operating the elements. PRÓTESIS II touches topics related to protolanguage, communicational gestures and more importantly an idea of disability. For which the composer states that art as a prosthetic for society, has the opportunity to create another system of values. This piece gives us the possibility to embrace the necessity and the lacking, understanding that individuality is only achieved in the collective, and for that we all work as a prosthetic for the other.

Prótesis II is a piece in collaboration with video realizator and trumpetist Germán García aka GGG.

Interprets And Location / Interpreten und Ort

German Gabriel García – trumpet and video realisation
Lara Alarcón – composition and idea, live camera
Recorded live in Heimathafen in the framework of 48HSNEUKOELLN Festival (June 2022).
Concert developed by Kollektiv Unruhe.

Short Biography / Kurze Biographie

Lara Alarcón (Buenos Aires, 1991) is a vocalist, composer/performer and improviser. Her VQ performances/compositions implement the idea of prosthetic dialectics by the use and support of large amplifications, pedals, noise devices and other sonic complexities, with some extending to live video, live coding and within electroacoustic formats like electric trio, strings, and solo performances. Her music engages the listener in an intense way by using strong changes in dynamics, extended durations and a firm stage presence. Her performances push borders in disciplines and genre, always looking to engage her eclectic knowledge, background and experience.

Germán Gabriel García aka GGG (Rosario, Arg 1988)is a trumpet player, improviser and composer based in Berlin. He is currently focused on expanding the sounds of the trumpet, investigating techniques, using the possibilities of his body related to sound and gesture and also exploring electric amplification and digital electronics.