“Black Silence” identifies as a musing on the function of new technological tools within contemporary communication, achieved through a special use of prosody, voice, and silence.
In the contemporary culture these three elements are being transformed and reformulated through the filter of the new technologies. Online presence and media influence have replaced silence and imagination, devices have become the substitutes for thought and voice, feeding us with superficial content and blurring the boundary between the individual and the reality.

In this form of technological alienation, our individuality appears to die only to be reborn as a “digitized unconscious”, mediating our contact with the world, filtered and crystallized by the totalizing dynamics of algorithms.

The core of “Black Silence” is formed by the mixture of human and digital prosody, created with a combination of voice cloning and TTS.
Another key element of “Black Silence” is the theatrical action. The performers carry out actions that have become some of the most common in everyday human life. They interact obsessively with their devices, while some attempt to establish a non-digital connection with the humans who are listening to them and watching them.
Finally, the electronics, supporting the two previous elements, extend their timbre and soundscape. 

“Black Silence” was commissioned by “Conservatorio di Musica F.A. Bonporti di Trento e Riva del Garda”, as part of the project “Sounding Images – Screening Sounds”.
Watch the premier performed by “Divertimento Ensemble”, conducted by Sandro Gorli, below or on YouTube.
Listening with headphones or through a sound system is highly recommend.