Verónica Mota is a professional sound artist currently working in Berlin. Her works encompass analogue and digital synthesis, field recordings and Musique Concrète techniques, often displaying her proficiency at playing a variety of instruments. She has produced a large body of soundtrack work for Radio, film and performance, and, with Cubop & Espectra Negra, as a solo artist in her own right.
Facts:
1. Death is unavoidable. Life is a wonderful path we can enjoy.
2. The world is a very dark place where horrible things happen to many people. Hour per hour. Day by day.
3. The most difficult thing in life is to understand we don’t have time to waste. Why to waste it feeling and causing pain and sorrow?
Verónica Mota
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
The biggest inspiration in my work as a professional sound artist, sound designer & musician are human beings behavior and nature. My creative world researches constantly the meaning of life, death, ritual, existence, but also the what happens in the human mind.This is why dream territories are also very relevant to me. In our dreams everything is possible. This is why I find dreams very intriguing. They can tell us so much about our true desires, about our potential as human beings, but also about the cruelty of trauma and memory. I basically explore the Light and the Shadows we normally don’t see.
Today I find myself quite interested also on new technologies, artificial intelligence, sex robots and mass media since this terrain is quite relevant for those like myself who read science fiction as children and young adults. All those books and movies became real. We are watching what we read as kids and is seriously scary. Replacing a human companion with a robot (Blade Runner)? Maybe robots are more ethical than human beings (A.I.)?. Fascinating times! Not to mention the sci-fi sounds which I very much love to produce myself with my beloved analogue synths.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
First I was producing radio as a journalist in Germany. After my grand mother became blind I had to think of a nice gift to her. I decide to record her a sound collage as a portrait of my new home Berlin.
I went out doing many field recordings around the city explaining her all the things I was able to see and given her the change to listen to the city. She loved that tape and played it until she died one year later. This was an amazing gift she gave me. Since then I developed a strong listening talent. My grand father played trumpet and direct an orchestra in his golden years so I had the love and understanding for music already as a kid. As a teenager I studied classic guitar until I decided to study Philosophy. Here in Berlin I discover sound as an excellent creative source. My sound collages became sound sculptures and serious sound art. I feel very honor to have this talent. I thank with all my heart my grand parents. They live through my work.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
I wish I could write all the albums I love. But that would be a very long list. To make it short:
1. Eliane Radigue – „Transamorem Transmorten“ (1973)
2. Delia Derbyshire (in collaboration with Barry Bermange) – „The Dreams“ (1964)
3. Diamanda Galas – „Litanies Of Satan“ (1982)
4. Cosey Fanni Tutti – „Time To Tell“ (1983)
5. Coil – The Ape Of Naples (2008)
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Curry Wurst, Dönner Kebab, Die DDR, Die Mauer, Rosa Luxemburg, Die 20er Jahren, Dada, Einstürzende und Neubauten, Hausprojekte, Die Grüni, Strassen Fest, Tresor, Berghain, Der Türkische Markt, Kotti, Fernsehturm, Oranien Strasse, Dresdener Strasse, Alexander Platz.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Where I was born: Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán y el Zócalo.
In Berlin: die Dresdener Strasse, Treptower Park, Paul Linke Ufer and Engelbecken.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I would write books.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
„Dead Magic“ by Anna von Hausswolff (2018)
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Diamanda Galas or Cosey Fanni Tutti
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
The best I attended recently was the one by Anna von Hausswolff.
The last best gigs I had were early this year as part of the CTM Vorspiel program which took place at the Galerie Mausefalle in Karl Marx Strasse 277,
and at Spektrum in Neukölln. Both presentations were very successful.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology is very important for my work since my main instruments are synthesizers. I work with different machines and software such as the MS20, Dark Energy, Micro Brute, Ableton Live, Reason, Logic & Final Cut, to mention some. Also a lot of field recordings and samplers. I work also as a media teacher showing others how to produce electro-acoustic music & the Cut-Ups methode by Tristan Tzara and William Burroughs. Technology is an important part of my work.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
Yes. The closest one who truly understand my career is a musician himself. He plays Saxophone and is becoming quite professional at a very young age. For him is super fascinating to see how I work. I carry many machines, cables, a mixer, laptop & headphones. He is always quite impressed about how I manage my set up. He only carries his sax and music notes. We come along very well. He always asks me when he has questions about tips for his creative future. He earns much better than me and I am very proud of him! I also have a cousine who became a photographer. I tried once to convinced her to become a proper artist, to risk and explore with collages and experimental approach instead of doing only reality shoots. She has not listened yet. This are the ones who dare to listen to my work in my family. I am pretty sure my grand parents, if they would be still alive, will sit and listen and give even feedback. They always supported me. No matter what I choose to do.
