International Visitors Programme
Between March and April 2023, iii (instrumentinventors.org) had the pleasure of welcoming Brazilian musicologists and artists Vivian Caccuri and Thiago Lanis to the Netherlands as part of the iii residency programme. During their month-long stay, the pair had time to finalise and develop their 2023 work, Fantasma Boca (Mouth Ghost), for presentation during Proximity Music: Visceral Acts, the exhibition that accompanied Rewire Festival from 7-9 April.
In this work, Vivian Caccuri and Thiago Lanis recreate the soundscape of a tropical forest, creating an environment in which birds, insects, water, air and other creatures are simulated by the performers using only their lips and mouths. During its six performances, Mouth Ghost alone attracted more than 670 visitors, while the exhibition attracted more than 14,370 visitors in total. During the accompanying networking event, Vivan and Thiago were also able to meet more than 50 national and international cultural professionals.
In addition to their residency and presentation, Vivan and Thiago also wanted to engage in a knowledge exchange and share their working methods with the audience. As a result, they developed an accompanying workshop alongside their work. During the workshop, children and their parents were invited to learn how to reproduce some of the sounds of tropical animals and create a group composition. In order to be accessible to a wide audience, the workshop was held in Dutch and English.
Finally, to engage with the theme and background of the work from a different angle, Vivian took part in the exhibition’s opening panel, Visceral Acts of Environmental Listening, on 6 April. Together with curator Matteo Marangoni, Vivian Caccuri, Vica Pacheco and Naomi Rincon Gallardo demonstrated and discussed their approaches and the tools that allow them to recalibrate our relationships with natural elements and complex ecological systems, while connecting with different forms of knowledge. Thanks to the support of the Visitors Programme of the Nieuwe Instituut, iii was able to share the practice and work of Vivans and Thiagos with a wide audience and connect them to the Dutch cultural landscape.