artisti
Maria Chavez
Maria Chavez
Maria Chavez, born in Lima, Peru, and based in New York City, is a sound artist, DJ, and curator, best known as an abstract turntablist. Coincidence, chance and failures are recurring in her work across mediums, including improvised performance,sonic sculpture, visual art,book objects and an extensive history with multi-channel installation.Her multimedia practice is profoundly expansive and responsive, emphasizing attention to context. Her approach is rooted in Deep Listening, a form of embodied listening developed by her late mentor Pauline Oliveros. Maria Chavez is the only turntablist in the world who performs with a rare needle known as the RAKE Double Needle. This special device contains two needles on one head, allowing it to read two different segments of a single record at the same time. Paired with her inimitable ability to create sonic experiences from shards of broken records, each performance is an enigmatic journey through sound. Her work has been featured and supported by international institutions over the past decades including Rewire Festival, Counterflows Festival, Donau Festival, MoMA PS1, The Getty, DOCUMENTA 14, the JUDD Foundation, Cambridge University Press and many more. She released recordings with Sandy Ewen via OrbTapes, and with Jordi Wheeler via Takuroku label, a cassette with collaborator Lucas Gorham via Ratskin Records, a flexi disc with Devin Kenny via Ballastnvp. Her album Maria Chavez PLAYS Stefan Goldmann’s Ghost hemiola, an investigation of the unobstructed vinyl medium,is an homage tothe medium itself. Chavez’s 2012 book Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable has garnered a reputation as both an academic resource on turntablism and a foundational text for a new generation of turntablists. Her latest essay on how multi-media installation practices can be considered part of encouraging neuroplasticity in society is available via E-Flux Journal and the Guggenheim Museum.