Cristóbal Martinez and Southern Exposure are collaborating to create Hallucinations of Remembrance and Imminence, combining the artist’s research into the high desert landscape and ecosystem with development of a new exhibition comprising immersive and interactive sound installations, commissioned performances, a conversation series, an original LP, and a print publication.
Martinez will create dense soundscapes using an algorithmic mix of sounds he will record of birds and insects native to North Central New Mexico, where his family has lived since time immemorial. These soundscapes will be inspired by his family’s stories about the lapse in humans’ ability to speak with animals and based on Martinez’s sonic memories around the expanse of the desert and his current fear for these places where animal populations are disappearing as their habitats are destroyed by severe drought and encroaching development and where their migratory pathways are disrupted by desert storms caused by climate change.
Cristóbal Martinez is an artist in the collective Postcommodity and associate professor and chair of Art and Technology at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is Mestizo, a descendant of the Genizaro, Pueblo, Manito, and Chicano peoples of Northern New Mexico.
Southern Exposure is an artist-centered nonprofit organization committed to supporting diverse visual artists. It is recognized for extensive, innovative programming and providing a resource center for artists of all ages.
Featured image: Installation view of When Dreams Are Reality by Cristobal Martinez, courtesy of Telematic Media Arts.