Interview: Black and white with Hugo Esquinca
In September and October, Skanu Mezs in Riga played host to an extraordinary sonic experience, featuring the Berlin-based sound artist and researcher, Hugo Esquinca. Hailing from Mexico, Esquinca has carved out a niche for himself in the world of sound art, delving into the intricate web of spatio-temporal relationships arising from transductive interactions between technology and the sonorous.
Esquinca's body of work is characterized by an exploration of the resonatory potential inherent in specific architectural spaces. His compositions and installations, often site-specific in nature, push the boundaries of audibility and challenge traditional notions of sound. Embracing an aesthetics of error, he amplifies sound to the extreme and revels in the unexpected situations arising from variable acoustical conditions.
At the invitation of the tekhne sound art project, Esquinca brought his existential sonic stress from his home country, Mexico, to captivate audiences with a burst of extreme noise performance and an installation. The venue, Tu Jau Zini Kur (eng. - you know where), became an unconventional stage as Esquinca opted for an immersive experience, positioning himself not on stage but in the midst of the audience crowd. The suddenness, brevity, and intensity of the performance took those present by surprise. In his noise music, Esquinca creates a visceral and confrontational experience, a sonic journey that is best appreciated in a pitch-black environment as was the case at Tu Jau Zini Kur.
One the other hand, second part of his work was featured in a dazzlingly white space. Esquinca extended his sonic footprint to the neighbouring gallery, TUR (eng. - there), where he put up an installation CONDICIÓN_0923 [On Instrumental Conditioning of Permissible Exposure Limits]. The piece consisted of self-constructed, black and mobile military-grade sound racks emanating noise. Despite their subdued visual presence and emotionally detached title, his objects had a maximalist sonic expression, a quality of suppressed stress and rage. The juxtaposition of visual simplicity with sonic complexity serve as a testament to Esquinca's talent to evoke powerful emotions through art.
