aguatierra by Juan José Calarco

[TEASER by Tobias Fischer]

Extending beyond the limitations imposed on them by working with single sheets of paper, the authors of the Beat-movement would tape together various pages to create far more expansive canvases for their streams of consciousness. Substituting words for sounds and a typewriter for a setup of portable recorder and laptop, the work of Juan José Calarco is characterized by a similar desire to keep the sonic flow going. Rather than following conventional concepts of composition, his albums constitute open-ended journeys in perpetual search and constant negotiation both of a path and goal, similar perhaps to how a DJ exclusively spinning field recordings would build his sets. The impression of a limitless sonic world is reinforced on aguatierra, on which improvisations blend with pure environmental noises, long stretches of unprocessed material are ruptured by sudden dynamic leaps and scenes are segueing into each other on the strength of intuition rather than deductive logic. The comparison with the oeuvre of Francisco López has been made on more than one occasion, but it is hardly the most apt point of reference here, since, to Calarco, the respectful representation of a concrete space is as important as the „absoluteness“ and „non-referentiality“ of the sound experience. In his hands, reality has always been a malleable material, as much defined by physical fact as by the observer’s personal perspective, as much by experience as by memory. To some, aguatierra’s highly focused topical angle, concentrating almost obsessively on bird song and subtle water movements, may seem to mark it as unobtrusive. For Calarco, however, this may have precisely been the point: It is not in the demonstrative deformation of his sources, but their surprising placement on a vastly expanded canvas that he is capable of extending beyond the limitations imposed on him by his tools.
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Aguatierra is about creating an undefined territory, where traces of one place reconstruct the other. A flow from which the discontinuities of time and space try to create a continuous narrative through the wandering into two landscapes of artificial islands. Considering them both delineated by their irregularities, my main approach was about exploring through their variances, generating a reflection of each other : the ecological park of Xochimilco, located within México City, is somehow defined by the coexistence of a very traditional place (the large series of canals which are remains of the Chinampas agricultural practice) with the semi-urban morphology of fences, metal structures and large lumber. Called “garden of flowers” and nevertheless immersed in the urban and environmental degradation, these islands preserve a rich heritage of myths and rituals.

Whilst Reserve Otamendi, at the valley of Río Luján in Argentina, can be really described as a reversed interrelationship of the built environment and nature ; an abrupt myriad of small canals and marshes form themselves between the landslide of a railway bridge and the surrounding waters ; grown from the margins of their spatial context, they extend as a vast wetland threatened by abandon, predation and recurrent fires.

So, I worked from the similarities on the sound contents of both places, treating them as a whole but also focusing on their landmarks, to mirror each other, juxtapose and merge them. Wanting to draw indeed a blurred but tangible, non-territorial geography.(Juan José Calarco)

a thematic ltd series focusing primarily on phonographies reflecting the spirit of a specific place crowded with memories, its aura & resonances and our intimate interaction with it…

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