Clara de Asís is a composer, performer and sound artist who explores the relation of sound perception, active listening and space, and develops simplicity as an aesthetic principle. Her works have been presented throughout Europe, America and Asia, in the form of sound performances, composition premieres, concerts, and installations. De Asís’ recording output has been published by, among others, Another Timbre (UK), Elsewhere (USA), Marginal Frequency (USA), Pilgrim Talk (USA), Blank Mind (UK). She is also the co-founder of Discreet Editions together with Mara Winter.
Clara is part of the DARA String Festival at Werkhalle Wiesenburg, this Saturday, 28.8.2021.
FACTS
1. Sound is vibration.
2. At this moment I’m writing ‘at this moment’.
3. ‘I’ is only a convenient term.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
The act of listening.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
Probably since before I can remember.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Five times the sound of life.
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Profusion.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
In the town I was born: ‘La Caleta’ old beach surrounding the San Sebastián fortress. In the town I live: the infinite fields.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Some other form of spiritual practice.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Tidiane Thiam, ‘Sitforde’.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Hildegard von Bingen.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
The best one, I couldn’t say. Memorable ones as performer: Córdoba, Spain, at the Centro de Creación Contemporánea in a space with 8’4 seconds of natural reverberation. Stockholm, Sweden, in an apartment with a very small audience. Calcutta, India, at Saint-John’s Church, in absentia and in imagination, because I couldn’t resist to the charms of the cane sugar natural juice offered to me in the street, which made me sick and unable to perform.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
As important as means of realisation are.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I do. They feel unconditionally supportive, and utterly intrigued.
Photo © Simone Petracchi
