Artist Statement

Lost, but not lost forever is a sound performance that uses old media devices to create new soundscapes. The set-up is made from few cassette players that are continuously playing changeable cassette tape loops; radios are also added to play random AM/FM frequencies and create a depth to the sound. A sewing machine is the central piece with piezo microphones positioned on its surface to detect the vibrations and transform them in audible waves, also an adjacent rhythm is created using the metal needle perforating the surface. A light sensor from a S I G N U M device is used to create the principal beat and the bass. A small PCB (printed circuit board) is the last one to be added and used to close the performance. The title Lost, but not lost forever is a tribute to old media that doesn’t exist anymore (or dead media) but we still remember their existence. Also puts the question “What’s the life expectancy of a media?”. Of course, depends from type to type, but at the end, somehow, they all die. Or “Is there a medium that never died?”. “What’s the new medium that is going to conquer the world?”. monicavlad.com/lost-but-not-lost-forever

• Monica Vlad changes the functionality of old media devices and everyday objects to create new sounds. She combines the astonishing sound textures and seemingly endless possibilities of the noise genre with sounds from opposite genres such as classical music to create a “paradox soundscape.” Her live performances are different each time, but always intense, dramatic and powerful. For her visuals, Monica creates new mediums of projection that together with the sound, compose a totally new immersive exposure to “reality”. For her light installations, she works with solid light that can easily be perceived. The viewer is invited to directly engage and experience with the sculptural characteristics of light. The installations carry performative and participatory qualities: while walking through space, the viewer morphs into the landscape which disrupts the autonomy of the exhibition space and imposes its own spatial and temporal identity.