Blinking

Blinking was written, produced and performed by La Cosa Preziosa.

La Cosa Preziosa writes: 

Blinking is about a feeling anyone who's ever lived the experience of emigration will recognize. That of returning to your native country to find that what you see is different, sometimes clearer and sharper than it ever was while you were there. It's also about a sense of loss, rootlessness, and searching.

On what inspires her to make audio:

The soundscapes I create can be considered fragments of impressionistic realities, sometimes playful streams of consciousness punctuated by sonic incursions and intrusions. Coming to sound art from a background in literature, I find sound a particularly attractive match for short form fiction (be it abstract or scripted). Its close ties to the short-story form constantly fascinate me: a shared economy of form, effectiveness and ability to capture the epiphany in the moment. With the space it affords the imagination, I am also drawn to the potential of sound as a medium for the speculative and the surreal.

On inspiration outside of audio: 

Definitely literature and the rhythm of language. There is just so much satisfaction to be found in a perfectly balanced sentence, in a well-chosen word, in a surprising opening line - which of course links back to sound and listening. Reading (and by reading I mean on paper, the physical experience of a book) more or less subliminally informs and inspires what I do, but also manages to relax and recharge me, providing complete escapism. Can't really ask for much more than that.

Constellations says:

La Cosa Preziosa makes all her field recordings from scratch, and the payoff evident in her sound. Her pieces reach out, detailed and stark, beckoning for us to lean deeper into rich reverberations of the world. 

We're inspired by her playful orchestration of micro-soundscapes, which you can listen to in her delicious monthly newsletter, the Secret Soundscape Club (available on her website). 

La Cosa Preziosa (Susanna Caprara) is a sound artist and field recordist originally from the south of Italy and based in Dublin, Ireland.

Recently shortlisted for the prestigious EBU Ars Acustica ‘Prix Palma’ award, her work is focused on the creation of short-form audio works composed exclusively out of original field recordings, captured in different locations around the world.  These can take the form of narrated fiction, abstract composition, electroacoustic sound art, experimental organic tracks and micro documentaries.   

Projects include Onironautica (RTÉ Lyric FM commission for EBU Ars Acustica's broadcasts of Art's Birthday 2017), creating a soundscape for a Lucien Clergue photograph as part of Landscape/ Soundscape at Penn State University (USA), 'Mean Time', a large scale live performance inspired by the women of 1916 (Richmond Barracks and live broadcast on RTÉ Lyric FM) and devising Soundscape Yoga for the HearSay International Audio Festival.

Teaching & facilitating include guest lecturing for Trinity College Dublin's Music Composition Centre and workshops for the LUAN Gallery Athlone, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, HearSay International Audio Festival and more.

Awards include the 'Europe: A Sound Panorama' juried prize for soundscape art (Goethe Institut Belgrade, Deutschland Radio Kultur, ZKM Institut for Music and Acoustics Karlsruhe, Radio Belgrad, European Broadcasting Union Ars Acoustica Group), Dublin City Council Artist's Bursary Award (2012) and Project Award (2016), Culture Ireland Travel Award to Canada (2011), Migrant Artists on Ireland and a New Voices of Ireland bursaries (Centre For Creative Practices, 2013 and 2015).