Sound design and installation for the film project directed by Inés Vázquez, San Sebastián / Donostia and Zarautz, Spain (2023)
Zona umbra is an artistic and curatorial project based on a critical reflection on shadow as the raw material of cinema. It is grounded in the phenomenon of the eclipse as a metaphor for the minimal cinematic event and seeks, from a contemporary perspective, the spark of early moving images within current cinematographic forms. The project unfolds across three temporal dimensions: film production, film preservation, and curatorial practice.
For Zona umbra, a sound piece was developed based on beat frequencies and a composition of ascending and descending tones, evoking the movement of planetary rotation. The sonic structure is built from the gradual sliding of overlapping frequencies within the installation space, generating audible beats that emerge and disappear over time.
This sonic phenomenon dialogues with the logic of an eclipse: just as a celestial body casts a shadow by interrupting another’s path of light, in the installation the sounds overlap, creating zones of interference and perceptual oscillation. The effect was produced through the spatial arrangement of two loudspeakers placed at opposite ends of the room, each emitting a distinct sound track. The interaction between both sources generated a dynamic blend in the air, where beat frequencies would appear and vanish depending on the listener’s position.
In this way, the piece explores the materiality of sound in relation to shadow and concealment, amplifying the sensory dimension of the eclipse beyond its visual representation.
To listen to the sound piece, stereo format:
(it will never be the same as experiencing it in the physical space)
