Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais’s “Installations / Instalações” book reviewed by Vital Weekly

The next one is also a book, also (a bit of) a problem. This time, the text is in Portuguese and English, so that’s not the issue here. I like to think our principal interest is sound; we can hear on whatever sound carrier (don’t send your VHS tapes, please, or 8-track cassettes). Reading about sound already gets a bit more complicated, especially when it comes to theory. Still, in the case of Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais ‘Installations’, we deal with an art catalogue. You may know them as the duo @C, of whom we reviewed various releases over the years. They are a laptop duo rooted in field recordings, acoustic sound and improvisation. Another interest of theirs is the creation of installations. Since 2005 they did a few, and they are documented in this 210 pages softcover book, with 140 images, plus texts describing these and a more general introduction. It is undoubtedly a fascinating read, and the installations look fantastic, but it is not the ‘real’ thing. We miss a great deal of the experience, the sight and the sound. There are now two releases on the Cronica Bandcamp page that deal with two of these installations, and I strongly recommend playing these while flipping/reading this book (links below, they’re both ‘name your price downloads’). I know you’d still miss out on the visual side of the experience, but at least there is something to hear when looking at the pictures and reading the text. (FdW)

via Vital Weekly