Gestures of Abundance. Walk&Talk Bienal de Artes 2025

São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal

materials: graphite drawings, photographic prints, 2 x single channel videos, plaster cast sculpture, silver-embroidered fish scales, silver-mesh garment, painted wall text, spoken performance, printed photographic performance cards

photo credits: Mariana Lopes

An Infrasonorous Archipelago draws on geological phenomena to investigate states of instability, transmissions of matter, and connections between local and global vibrations. It develops from the antipodal relationship between Tasmania and the Azores, exploring vibrational energies, fragile geologies, and situated practices that echo across sea, land, and air, connecting archipelagos and imaginations. The research undertaken as part of an internship at the Institute for Volcanology Research and Risk Assessment, University of Azores, as well as a cultural residency based on São Miguel Island, involves infrasonic monitoring on the islands, recording spontaneous volcanic events and artefacts, as well as swimming and singing practices as forms of listening and resonance. Through propositions that unfold in experimental drawing, video, sculpture, and performance, the work reflects on the value of chance, exchange, and sensory experience — rather than formal knowledge — to imagine alternative ways of inhabiting instability. Between seismic landscapes and interdependent relationships, the work proposes thinking about shared territories based on the subterranean and vibrational forces that pass through us

Acknowledgements:

An Infrasonorous Archipelago is a commissioned project for the 2025 Walk&Talk Biennial, Gestures of Abundance.
The project received research and development funding through Arts Tasmania, and international travel assistance from Regional Arts Network Tasmania.

The project was realised with the generous support from the following people:

The curatorial, production and communications teams at Walk&Talk Bienal; Experimental Infrasonic Array material: Professor Nicolau Wallenstein, Linda Silva, Sandro Matos, Hadi da Cruz Institute for Research in Volcanology and Risk Assessment, University of Azores; Singing Mermaid Queens of Piscinas do Pesqueiro: Helena Cordeiro, Lucia Silva, Maria da Conceição Ferreira Oliveira Costa; Video Animation: Joe Shrimpton – Flare Productions; Source photographic Images: Hole in Ground – Peter Mathew; Lava Balloon and Wounded Espada Branco – Nicolau Wallenstein;Hand-signed translation for Infra Gestures video: Michelle Cryzowisz and Ben Richardson – Auslan After Dark (Tasmania); Ema Gonçalves – Associação de Surdos da Ilha de S. Miguel.

⬿ Selected Works