Superficial Annotations is a training project curated by Enrico Malatesta that seeks to explore the sound and dynamics of active listening applied to the sphere of the Performance Arts, Dance and the Theatre.
The course is structured in an intensive manner and consists of a theoretical and listening part based on the proposal of stimuli that open up dialogue to the social, cultural, artistic, physical and magical implications of sound in scenic spaces.
The practical part consists of active listening exercises (either individually or in a group) in which participants are urged to explore the relationship between sound, space and the body. The aim of this section of the work is to facilitate an awareness of the performative space and of one’s own body in movement through the medium of sound and of its potential for establishing relationships.
The methods used to conduct the exercises involve participants in a critical manner, urging them to contribute to the development of the practices and to share their experiences; the intention is to produce an open and stimulating study device designed to improve participants’ attention structure and their ability to transform their listening experience into an active, creative and authorial resource, in the practice of performance art.
Enrico Malatesta (Cesena, 1985) is an independent percussionist and researcher who works in experimental environments situated between music, performance art and exploration of the territory; his practice explores the relationship between sound, space and movement and the vitality of materials with a special focus on surfaces, on ways of listening and on the definition of multiple information through an ecological and sustainable approach to the percussion instrument.
He collaborates with important independent cultural institutions and spaces and presents his own work in Italy, Europe, North America, Brasil, Japan and South Korea, taking part in important contemporary music and performance art festivals. He is the author of a book entitled LILY STAR (2019) and the founder of MU, an independent organisation involved in the production of events, retrospectives and workshops devoted to sound, experimental music and spatial practices, active in the Romagna region.