Moving Image
Mariam Bergloff
Mariam is an Iranian artist born in San Francisco and currently working and living in London. She is a classical pianist exploring the boundaries of electroacoustic music composition, sonic arts and new musical instruments. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Technology from New York University. Her recent sonic experimentations will be available on vinyl this autumn as part of The Silence with the Consent of Sound audio catalogue from the 2019 Field Kitchen Academy Residency.
My work examines the musical and philosophical approaches to the sustained note, the drone. Investigating established tuning systems, ontologies of listening, and theoretical understandings of the 'inaudible', I seek to unravel the mysticisms of sonic resonances in relation to the musical drone. Working with sound and mixed media, my installations and multichannel compositions invite listeners to immerse themselves in a state of active listening. The use of interactive and spatialized processes allows for listeners to shift their understanding of noise, silence and stillness.
underground roadwork. What about this combination of dissonance allows us to better tune into the
essence of the sonic material? What can be noticed from our sensitivity to certain sounds? This
composition exposes the disquiet in several field recordings, as a form of grappling with the corporeality
of sound. The disembodied, semi-familiar, unearthly sonic inflictions create a space to reflect on and
encounter what we fear most in the noise that surrounds us.
