Sound Art: France Jobin / i8u

Canadian artist, celebrated sound sculptor, works released (under the moniker "i8u") on leading labels of the genre such as and/OAR, ATAK, Contour Editions, Dragon's Eye Recordings, Non Visual Objects, Room40 and many others.
And as if that weren't enough, France Jobin also excels in the audio-visual field: performances and video installations at noteworthy festivals (Mutek, Victoriaville, Send + Receive, Club Transmediale, Immersound etc.) and important art venues (Hammer Museum of Los Angeles, San Francisco Art Institute Lecture Hall, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec etc.).

Her recent audio release, "Surface Tension" on Murmur Records, must necessarily be included among the best albums of the past year.
The latest one, published first under her real name and out in February on L-ne, is titled "Valence": sounds with references to the world of chemistry and perceptible departure from those compositional schemes that we got used to.
A gleaming gem, substance radiating sweetness and light, three long pieces that maintain an inimitable identity, purity, ravishing musicality.






Rigorous aesthetic sensibility, superb skills in sound processing, minimalist imprint as common denominator of most of her work, marked by an amazing simplicity/complexity, rich in subtle, barely audible elements: all that offers an immersive listening experience, all that makes France Jobin a unique figure in this area of exploration.

Photo by Sandor Dobos

Also, some weeks ago, France expressed her opinion about the best works listened to in 2011.
Here it is:

• Steve Roden - Proximities (Line)
• Tomas Phillips - Prosa (Tench)
• Robert Crouch - An Occupied Space (DER)
• Richard Chartier - Trasparency (Performance) (Line)
• Richard Garet + Asher Thal-Nir - Melting Ground (Contour Editions)
• Yann Novak - Presence (hibernate)
• Paul Devens - Exwork (Moab Records)
• Mika Vainio - Life (... It Eats You Up) (Editions Mego)

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Discography:

As i8u:

i8u
















Label: Pandora
Cat. #: mpan-0004
Format: CD
Release date: 1999

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Live At Spectre

Label: Pandora
Cat. #: mpan-0006
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2000

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i8u b
















Label: Bake Records
Cat. #: Bake Records 047
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2001

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Untitled

w/ Martin Tétreault

Label: --
Cat. #: --
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2001

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VOLT-AA (01) Le Silence
















w/Alexandre St-Onge, Ælab

Label: Oral
Cat. #: ORAL cdr 01
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2001

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Grasshopper Morphine
















Label: Piehead Records
Cat. #: PIE004
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2002

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Obstacle: Phase 2
















Label: Oral
Cat. #: ORAL cdr 02
Format: CD-R
Release date: 2002

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Diffraction
















Label: Vague Terrain
Cat. #: Vague 5
Format: CD
Release date: 2006

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Anther
















w/ Tomas Phillips

Label: petite sono]
Cat. #: o67
Format: CD
Release date: 2006

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Symbiotic
















w/ Andrew Duke

Label: Pertin_nce
Cat. #: Pertin-nce_006
Format: File, mp3
Release date: 2007



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10-33 cm
















Label: Room40
Cat. #: DRM406
Format: File, mp3, Digital download
Release date: 2008

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Ligne
















w/ Tomas Phillips

Label: Atak
Cat. #: ATAK013
Format: CD
Release date: 2009

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Physical, Absent, Tangible
















w/ Christopher Delaurenti, Gil Sansón, Brian Mackern, Gabriel Galli

Label: Contour Editions
Cat. #: ce.cd_0001
Format: CD-R
Release date: 02/2010

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Unter Den Linden / Und Transit
















w/ Christophe Charles

Label: Non Visual Objects
Cat. #: nvo 022
Format: CD
Release date: 05/2010

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29 Psalms
















Label: Dragon's Eye Recordings
Cat. #: de5030
Format: CD-R
Release date: 10/2010

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Surface Tension
















Label: Murmur Records
Cat. #: MMR-10
Format: CD
Release date: 11/2011

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As France Jobin:

Valence
















Label: Line
Cat. #: LINE_054
Format: CD
Release date: 02/2012

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The Illusion Of Infinitesimal

















Label: Baskaru
Cat. #: karu:27
Format: CD
Release date: 02/2014

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Sans Repères

















Label: Popmuzik Records
Cat. #: popmuzik 002
Format: LP
Release date: 09/2014

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Mirror Neurons

















w/ Fabio Perletta

Label: Dragon's Eye Recordings
Cat. #: der010
Format: CD
Release date: 04/2015

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Singulum

















Label: Line
Cat. #: LINE_075
Format: CD
Release date: 02/2016

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Radiance II: Music For The Answer

















w/ Stephan Mathieu

Label: Schwebung
Cat. #: Schwebung Étendue II
Format: File, Digital download
Release date: 06/2016

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Scènes

















Label: Line
Cat. #: LINE_093
Format: CD
Release date: 11/2017

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Intrication

















Label: No.
Cat. #:
Format: CD
Release date: 02/2018

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Death Is Perfection, Everything Else Is Relative

















Label: Editions Mego
Cat. #: eMEGO 276
Format:
Release date: 05/2020

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Appears on:

• Andrew Duke - More Destructive Than Organized (2004, Cognition Audioworks, caw021)
• flag.frog - Secrets Of The Lake / Foreign Sun (2011, Murmur Records, MMR-05)

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Tracks appear on:

• Goem - Gast (2001, Mutek_Rec, MTK_CLB01) track: Harusame
• Andrew Duke - Highest Common Denominator (2002, Piehead Records, PIE010) track: Loon Stats
• VV.AA. - Save Your Fork, There's Pie! (2002, Piehead Records, PIE012) track: Onua
• VV.AA. - 60 Sound Artists Protest The War (2003, Atak, --) track: No
• VV.AA. - A Baker's Dozen Part 1 (2004, Adozen, adz001) track: Friday

• VV.AA. - Mutek 04 (2004, Mutek_Rec, MTK04) track: 1/4 (w/ Magali Babin)
• VV.AA. Spellewauerynsherde, Interpretations Various & Sundry (2005, TRANS>PARENT RADIATION, TRANS001) track: Spelle [i8u] 1570-1 In Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) III. 594 For Vppyng Ye Swannes And Wynteryng Them .xxiijs.
• VV.AA. - Keeping The Neighbors Up All Night (2006, Pertin_nce, Pertin_05) track: Felt Not Heard (w/ Andrew Duke)
• VV.AA. - Extract - Portraits Of Soundartists (2007, Non Visual Objects, nvo 011) track: Steganography
• VV.AA. - Hmmm Remix Compilation (2007, Le Son 666, 666-13) track: Dodecahedron
• VV.AA. - Mutek 10 (2009, Mutek_Rec, MTK10) track: Whispering In Body Language
• VV.AA. - Send + Receive: 10 Years Of Sound (2009, Send + Receive Editions, --) track: (2005)
• VV.AA. - Flowers: Dragon's Eye Fourth Anniversary (2009, Dragon's Eye Recordings, de6006) track: Gallowalking
• VV.AA. - Untitled 10 (The Black Album) (2010, Untitled & After, UA10) tracks: Hovercraft, Hovercraft (Chaircrusher Remix) (w/ Andrew Duke)
• VV.AA. - Michelangelo Antonioni - Trilogy And Epilogue (2010, and/OAR, and/36) track: Untitled
• VV.AA. - 10 (2011, Room40, DRM410) track: Higgs
• Mathon - Terrestre Remixes (2011, Everest Records, ER_DVD_046) track: Sublim (i8u Remix)
• VV.AA. - Iron: Dragon's Eye Sixth Anniversary (2012, Dragon's Eye Recordings, de6010) track: Apophis
• VV.AA. - Unearthed From Airwaves (2011, IO SOUND – IO/001) track: 'Til Death
• VV.AA. - 14 Tracks: Digital Abduction (2012, Boomkat, bundle_218) track: D Orbital
• tmymtur - 呼応 (2013, ENSL AMDC, en005) track: 05.09.2012/0 (i8u Remix)
• VV.AA. - Framework Seasonal - Issue #4 Spring 2013 (2013, Framework Radio, --) track: Morongo
• VV.AA. - Livingvoid (2014, --, --) track: Untitled
• VV.AA. - [ Q01 ] (2014, Farmacia901, Q01) track: Baryons

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Links:
France Jobin / i8u

Sound Art: Barbara De Dominicis

photo by Davide Lonardi

Spiritual Archives welcomes Barbara De Dominicis, getting intrigued by her sound world, her distinctive techniques of experimentation/improvisation, her finely-nuanced voice compounded with electronics and environmental recordings.
Italian, highly creative, resourceful artist, involved in the project "Parallel 41", a stable interaction with Canadian cellist Julia Kent (read info below), expressed through performances, a CD and a movie (both forthcoming on Baskaru).
She is also founder and curator of "Exquisite What", platform that gathers audio and visual artists from all over the world.
A big thanks to Barbara for making this page possible.

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Biography:

Barbara De Dominicis, besides using her voice, likes to record natural or urban sounds and merge them in her music.
Her projects include Cabaret Noir [with Pasquale Bardaro], The Body_exposed: Poe-Si [with Mirko Signorile and Marco Messina], Kuul-Ma, an audio-visual project in collaboration with media artist Davide Lonardi.
In 2008 she wrote and produced the songs of her album Anti-Gone, based on a narrative theme of Greek mythology.
In the same year she met the canadian cello player Julia Kent. Together they brought into existence Parallel41, a musical/visual/improvisatory project released internationally on french record label Baskaru [February 2012]
A growing interest in Sound Portraiture led her to work on A tale of two cities, an audio collage documenting Naples and New York, that became a radiowork produced for Radio Papesse vs Radia Network: Crossings.
Among her soundworks: ReDiSound, a radio work produced for Radio Papesse - an homage to Marcel Duchamp [Call for revolutionary Sounds]; Whismical Cartography [produced for the multimedia exhibition "E-Art-Quake", commemorating the earthquake in Irpinia].
At the end of 2010, with a dozen of other sound and visual/photo artists, she gave life to Exquisite What [founder/curator], a collective web/project based on the Exquisite Corpse practice.
In 2011 she started to collect materials to set up "La Rêverie" [founder/curator] with the intention to build a sort of web-platform where it is possible to circumnavigate strangers' dreams, trying to investigate the impalpable "fil rouge" that ties diverse dreams apparently distant by nature, geography, culture.
Most recently she has been invited by GIRRL [girrlsound :digitalgirrl] (an Australia based organization in support of the development and promotion of new works by women dealing with sonic and digital arts) to curate and produce a series of radio podcasts (The Cat Cinderella) aimed to promote works by women artists who investigate sound as a distinctive element in their research.
At the moment she is working on a new solo album under the moniker Apres Soon: an assemblage of drones and field recordings, electronics, voices and string instruments.

Barbara De Dominicis ama raccogliere suoni, manipolarli ed inventare trame sonore.
Tra i suoi progetti, Poe-Si [con Marco Messina/99 Posse e Mirko Signorile], Cabaret Noir [con Pasquale Bardaro], Kuul_MA, sperimentazione audiovisiva in cui un'elettronica di tipo organico interagisce con i paesaggi mutevoli del visual artist Davide Lonardi.
Nel 2008 pubblica come solista Anti-Gone, un concept album che ha come filo conduttore narrativo la mitologia greca.
A partire dal 2008 inizia una collaborazione con la violoncellista canadese Julia Kent. Le loro performance (inizialmente sotto il nome di Intermittenze) presto diventeranno un progetto stabile ed in progress dal nome Parallel41. L'etichetta francese Baskaru pubblicherà il loro cd/dvd a febbraio 2012.
Tra i suoi lavori sonori, Whimsical Cartography (selezionato tra le opere che saranno esposte nella mostra multimediale collettiva E-ArtQuake, in commemorazione del terremoto dell' Irpinia) e Re_di_Sound [Radio Papesse] un omaggio a Marcel Duchamp [Call for Revolutionary Sounds].
Il suo crescente interesse per il paesaggio sonoro la porta a concepire A tale of two cities, una serie di audio collage volti a ritrarre analogie e differenze di due città che giacciono sullo stesso parallelo: Napoli e New York. Questo lavoro è diventato un radiodocumentario prodotto da Radio Papesse vs Radia network, dal titolo Crossings.
Tra i suoi progetti in corso, Exquisite What [di cui è curatrice/ideatrice] un collettivo ispirato alla pratica surrealista degli Exquisite Cadaver, dedito alla creazione di una piattaforma web audio/visiva; La Rêverie/La Sogneria (curatrice/ideatrice), uno spazio multimediale legato al sogno in cui, come all'interno di un mappamondo indicizzato per luoghi, tematiche ed epoche, si potrà scegliere di "entrare" [in mp3] nel racconto di un sogno o di viaggiare tra più sogni (in progress).
Di recente è stata invitata da GIRRLSOUND [un'organizzazione australiana a sostegno delle donne che lavorano in ambito di sonic e digital art] a curare e produrre una serie di podcast radiofonici (The Cat Cinderella) con l’intento di promuovere la diffusione di lavori di artiste a cavallo tra net.art, sound art e audio documentario.
Con il moniker Apres Soon è al lavoro su un nuovo album solista: un assemblaggio di drones e field recordings, di elettronica, voci e strumenti a corde.

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2011 Favorites by Barbara De Dominicis:

photo by Valerie Guibert

Solo una mappa psico_sonico-geografica dei miei ascolti quasi.sentimentali nell’arco del 2011, nessuna classifica (...)

Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma [Touch]
(http://www.chriswatson.net/)

Mudboy - This Is Folk Music [Weird Forest]
(http://mudboymusic.com/)

Christina Vantzou - No. 1 [Kranky]
(http://www.cristinavantzou.com/)

Seth Cluett - Objects Of Memory [L-Ne]
(http://www.onelonelypixel.org/)

Okkyung Lee - Noisy Love Songs [Tzadik]
(http://www.okkyung.wordpress.com/)

Farewell Poetry - Hoping For The Invisible To Ignite [Gizeh Records]
(http://www.farewell-poetry.com/)

Elio Martusciello - Concret Songs [TiConZero] (http://xoomer.virgilio.it/eliomart/)

Bill Orcutt - How the Thing Sings [Editions Mego]
(http://palilalia.com/)

Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol.2: Judges [Constellation]
(http://www.colinstetson.com/)

Newtone2060 - Shot [Fratto9UndertheSky]
(http://www.fratto9.com/?page_id=1771)

Esmerine - La Lechuza [Constellation]
(http://www.esmerine.com/)

(etre) - Inferno From My Occult Diary [Porter Records]
(http://salvatoreborrelli.tumblr.com/)

Empusae & Shinkiro - organic.aural.ornaments [Ant-Zen]
(http://www.empusae.com/empusae/home.html)

Kreng - Grimoire [Miasmah]
(www.myspace.com/krengmusic)

Leonardo Rosado - Mute Words [Heart and Soul]
(http://feedbacklooplabel.blogspot.com/)

Tiziana Bertoncini and Thomas Lehn - Horsky Park [Another Timbre] (http://www.thomaslehn.com/view/tnt_01.html)

Chubby Wolf - Los que No Son Gentos [Dragon's Eye Recordings] (http://chubbywolf.bandcamp.com/)

Fovea Hex - Here Is Where We Used To Sing [Janet Records]
(http://www.foveahex.bandcamp.com/)

Julia Kent - Green and Grey [Important Records]
(http://www.juliakent.com/)

Winter Family - Red Sugar [Sub Rosa]
(http://www.winterfamily.info/)

Ezekiel Honig - Folding In On Itself [Type Records]
(http://www.ezekielhonig.com/)

Jac Berrocal + David Fenech + Ghédalia Tazartès - Superdisque [SubRosa] (http://davidfenech.fr/wp/2011/10/01/jac-berrocal-david-fenech-ghedalia-tazartes-superdisque/)

Isnaj Dui (Katie English) - Circle of Sleep [Fbox Records]
(http://www.fboxrecords.co.uk/aboutnews.html)

Half Asleep - Subtitles For The Silent Versions [We Are Unique]
(http://soundcloud.com/half-asleep)

Paolo Angeli & Takumi Fukushima - Itsunomanika [ReR Megacorp]
(http://www.paoloangeli.it/)

Vitor Joaquim - Filament [Kvitnu]
(www.vitorjoaquim.pt/)

D'Incise - Rivages Sur L'antipode [ini.itu]
(http://www.dincise.net/)

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Air Chamber 3 feat. Barbara De Dominicis & guests | Valdapozzo (AL)

Parallel 41 (Julia Kent + Barbara De Dominicis) live | Filanda Motta (TV)

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Links:
Barbara De Dominicis (website) (soundcloud)
Parallel 41
Exquisite What

2011 Favorites by Laura Focarazzo

• Juan Antonio Nieto aka Pangea - "Litium" (Audiotalaia)
• Darren McClure - "Semi" (Impulsive Habitat)
• Tim Hecker - "ravedeath, 1972" (Kranky)
• Cleared - "Cleared" (Experimedia)
• Loscil - ¨Coast/ Range/Arc" (Glacial Movements Records)
• Stephan Mathieu - "A static place" (12k label)
• Taylor Deupree + Marcus Fischer - "In a place of such graceful shapes" (12k label)
• Offthesky - "The Boy With The Golden Cough" (Rural Colours)
• Relmic Statute - "A Cognitive Trail of Abstraction" (Hibernate)
• Jliat - 16 05 94 (Yugen Archives 2011)
• Alva Noto - "Univrs" (Raster-Noton)
• Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - "SuMMUS" (Raster-Noton)
• Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai - "Cyclo. - Id" (Raster-Noton)
• Yu Miyashita - "Noble niche" (mille plateaux)
• DUB-Russell - [Mus-002] VEIN - +MUS
• Aoki Takamasa - Monad IX (Stroboscopic Artefacts)
• Velveljin - "Nostalghia" (Noble Label)
• Junichi Akagawa - Work in Progress ;) [;)] (soundcloud)
• Höhlenmusik Ensemble – "Höhlenmusik Ensemble" (Paradigms Recordings)
• Matthew Halsall - "On The Go" (Gondwana Records)
• Varios - "11.11.11 - A day like no other" - (Mimi Records)

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Laura Focarazzo is a digital designer living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

As a parallel activity, Laura shows a strong interest in capturing life in motion (both natural and human), sparks of light hidden behind a few frames.
Spiritual Archives has been posting her short films and will keep on doing that, in the hope of revealing their secrets.
She is also member of the audiovisual collective "Exquisite What", web-based project involving a considerable number of artists (more info here).

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Videos:

En Un Abrir Y Cerrar






Release date: 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Landform" by Terje Paulsen
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Hunting

Release date: 12/2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: Homework
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Specific Gravity






Release date: 02/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: Pangea
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Light Birds






Release date: 04/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Holiday Market" by Takuya Minakawa
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Quantumlove






Release date: 06/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Afternoon Studies" by Relmic Statute
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Y Serás Dentro De Mí






Release date: 07/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Test chart" by Rintaro Iwashita
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Set Time






Release date: 09/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Dear






Format: Super 8
Release date: 10/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Burn Type-E" by Takuya Minakawa
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A 60 Seconds Portrait






Format: Super 8
Release date: 12/2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: Takuya Minakawa
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Grey Goo






Series: Lights | Piece number 3
Release date: 01/2011
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Grey Goo" by Takuya Minakawa
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mmmmmmmh






Release date: 01/2011
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "mmmmmmmh" by Thierry Massard
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Other Moons






Release date: 02/2011
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Où étiez-vous ?" by Thierry Massard
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Exoplanet




Full screen and headphones recommended

Release date: 06/2011
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Notes: Promo video for Bernhard Reiss' new album

Music: "Exoplanet" by Bernhard Reiss
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Stillness





Full screen and headphones recommended

Release date: 09/2011
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Overture" by Thomas Raukamp
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Falls and Flips





Full screen and headphones recommended

Release date: 01/2012
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "BFR10" by Daisuke Tanabe
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Tao





Full screen and headphones recommended

Release date: 01/2012
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "BFR02" by Daisuke Tanabe
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Behind The Limits





Full screen and headphones recommended

Release date: 04/2012
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Music: "Evening Roads" by Manrico Montero
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Links:
Laura Focarazzo (website) (myspace) (vimeo)