La Riva: Along The  𝄐 

2020-2021. Graphic Scores, Installation, Performance, Recordings.

Murate Art District Progetto RIVA

Inspired by the relational ecology of plants that live and die along the banks of the Arno River in Florence, La Riva: Along The  𝄐 included a series of graphic scores, an installation, a research residency, performances and studio recordings. The project reflected on a series of questions such as: What is the plant ‘voice’, or the ‘plant music’, of The Arno?  How can we reposition, rethink, and extend sense-relations with the plants that live and die there and what would the music of this interplay be?  Can we listen to these plants as fellow-beings, fellow-beings that are frequently neglected in the city of Florence, and highlight our co-existence with them? And lastly, how does one translate a drawing into sound? 

Drawing from the spaces and movements left by the Common Reed, the Ribwort Plantain, and the Pondweed plants found along the Arno's banks, Stromberg transposed the empty spaces resulting from their growth structures, how they swayed in the wind, or their movements in water onto musical forms. This led to a series of graphic scores, or what Stromberg calls ‘Drawing-Scores’, that are performed by Renato Grieco (double bass), Francesco Pellegrino (saxophone and clarinet), and Francesco Toninelli (percussion and vibraphone).  Neither entirely classical structured composition, nor entirely improvised, this project serves as a homage to the ephemeral and constantly changing nature of plant relationships along the Arno river as well as highlighting the human/plant interplay as music potential.

This project formed part of a larger research platform at Murate Art District (MAD) called Progetto Riva which also involved a residency at MAD in Florence. For more information about Progetto Riva, click here www.murateartdistrict.it/en/progetto-riva/progetto-riva/