Barbara
De Dominicis
Bio
Barbara De Dominicis besides using her voice, loves collecting sounds, manipulating them and inventing sound textures.
In 2009 she published as a soloist Anti-Gone, a concept album which bases its narrative on Greek mythology. In 2008 she began a collaboration with canadian cellist Julia Kent; their performance (initially under the name of Intermittenze) will soon become a stable project in progress with the name Parallel41 [a musical/visual/improvisatory project released internationally on french record label BASKARU - July 2012].
Her sound works include Whimsical Cartography – selected among the works which will be exhibited in the collective multimedia show E-ArtQuake in commemoration of the earthquake in Irpinia; Re_di_Sound [Radio Papesse], a tribute to Marcel Duchamp (Call for Revolutionary Sounds). Her growing interest in soundscapes leads her to conceive of A tale of two cities: a series of audio collages designed to portray the similarities and differences of two cities which lie on the same parallel, Naples and New York. This work has become a radiowork produced for RadioPapesse vs Radia network, entitled Crossings. Among her current projects Exqusite What [as both curator and creator] a collective inspired by the Surrealist practice of exquisite corpses dedicated to the creation of an audio-visual web platform; La Reverie/La Sogneria[curator/creator]_a multimedia space linked to dreaming in which, as if inside a globe indexed by locations, issues, and time periods, one can choose to "enter" [in mp3] into the story of a dream or to travel between multiple dreams (in progress). She has recently been invited by GIRRL_girrlsound:digitalgirrl an Australian organization supporting women working in the field of sonic and digital art] to curate a series of radio podcasts entitled "The Cat Cinderella" with the aim of promoting the dissemination of works by women artists on the brink between net_art, sound art and audio documentary. At the end of 2012 she started to collaborate with french visual artist Aude Francois: they conceived Self Made Worlds a performance for voice, electronics, and visual explorations [liberally adapted from ”House of Incest” by Anaïs Nin]: a dialogue between the organic body depicted in video and the sounds and voices present on the stage.
Barbara is working on a new solo album making use if rediscovered private memories [old photographs, letters from strangers, sounds of objects no longer in use, semi-forgotten nursery rhymes, etc]. Some audio and visual artists she has recently collaborated with include Leonardo Rosado; Mark Walters aka Savaran; Marco Messina; Mathias Van Eecloo aka Monolyth & Cobalt; Enrico Coniglio; Elio Martusciello, Airchamber 3; Roland Quelven; Andrea Serrapiglio; Ginetta Corelli; Nicolas Bernier; Davide Lonardi; Andrea Ics Ferraris. Her older projects include The Body-exposed; Poe-Si [with Mirko Signorile and Marco Messina] Cabaret Noir [with Pasquale Bardaro]; Kuul_Ma [an experimental audiovisual project in which organic electronic sounds interact with the changing landscape of visual artist Davide Lonardi ] In 2012 she became a member of AIPS (Italian soundscapes archive)
Press
"An ensemble of emotions on the 41st parallel. An ideal place where the deep cello played by Kent marries De Dominicis’ “provocatively vulnerable” voice, tenuous yet powerful, intense and full of nuances that immerse her travelling companion’s (Kent) instrument in field recordings to in electronica-style points of transit"
"By giving equal space to each of the three sound sources (cello, voice and found sounds) Parallel 41 achieve an unusual set of contrasts to evocatively take us on a sometimes delirious and always sensual journey"
"Parallel 41, in its constant encroachments, is the example of how one should make art which is not only the playing of a score, be it text or musical, but an opening toward everything that apparently does not belong to us and which is outside"
"Nove tracce costruite con una tecnica musiva certosina, fatta di passaggi delicati, sfumature impercettibili ed atmosfere trovate nella dissolvenza continua ed irregolare di paesaggi immaginari e fisici dalle tonalità maliconiche e sfumate."
"Parallel41 impresses on multiple levels as both a thoroughly engrossing travelogue and document of an inspired creative undertaking."
"Un documento sonoro e visivo volto a testimoniare una serie di sessions live registrate tra il 2009 e il 2010. Sono tracce di luoghi attraversati, conosciuti, esplorati; frammenti catturati ovunque, rimontati in funzione di una forma inedita di torch song del crepuscolo, totalmente improvvisata e catturata dal vivo, dove il violoncello della Kent costruisce telai ritmico armonici e la De Dominicis si divide tra un suggestivo canto jazz nerovestito e brevi recitati in lingua di Dante; vocalizzi galasiani e trattamenti elettronici; mentre tutt’intorno è un brulicare di field recordings, loops ed effetti"
"Elegance and enchantment, soothing poetry, ambitious avant-music."
"Haunting and mournful are words that come to mind when listening to Parallel 41."
"The first meeting between Julia Kent & Barbara De Dominicis is a successful experiment."
"Parallel 41 is extraordinary."
"A very exciting album, created with heart and soul."
"A really thoughtful and beautiful album."
"This subtle variety makes the result even more impressive."
"Nine tracks that short-circuit Björk with Laurie Anderson."
"Beautiful, obscure, engrossing and enthralling from start to finish."
"A suave blend, at times getting very close to the song format, sometimes heart and soul into electroacoustic free improvisation and sound performance."
"Nine audio postcards in which the cello and effects of Julia Kent encounter the electronic manipulations and the multilingual voice evocations of Barbara De Dominicis."
"An ambitious project."
"An essential buy."