Marinella Senatore: Cold Spring Soundtrack

In the spirit of finding a collective community voice and building on her 2019 processional performance in the Village of Cold Spring, Magazzino Italian Art and artist Marinella Senatore collaborated this fall to launch Cold Spring Soundtrack.

Initiated through an open call that ran from September 9 through November 7, 2020, Senatore invited volunteers to share short sound recordings of any moment that reflected of their current one. Volunteers participated by calling in and leaving a voicemail or sharing an audio recording via email or text message.

Contributions received included audio recordings of rain, trains, frogs, roosters, cicadas, crickets, a bicycle commute, construction in the neighboring apartment, construction on one’s roof, morning birdsong, a beloved cat purring in its final days, the bells of cathedrals in Florence, Italy and Kingston, NY, soundscapes of silent cities in isolation, Black Lives Matter protest chants, socially distanced high school graduations, sung renditions of favorite songs, a virtual memorial service, a birthday party, spoken word poetry, the tune of a recorder, violin duets, a choral ensemble, electronic music compositions, the sounds of anticipation and celebration upon receiving the results of the 2020 presidential election, and more.

At the end of the period of open submissions, Senatore and composer Emiliano Branda created an original score that interweaves every contribution received, creating a symphonic soundscape made up of individual voices.

At the heart of this project is the desire to find a cohesive, empowered voice and explore how individual contributions can lead to meaningful, collective action. The project was completed entirely through remote participation, meeting the current moment when the pandemic still looms, practices of isolation and social distancing are still in effect, yet collaboration across communities is most needed.

Featuring contributions by:

About Marinella Senatore

Marinella Senatore (b. 1977) is a multimedia artist currently based in Rome and Paris who creates projects with a strong collective and participatory dimension. Inspired by protest, public ceremonies, civic rituals, and mass public events, Senatore focuses on collective activities and the public forum. Trained in music, fine arts, and film, Senatore uses a broad spectrum of media to encourage exchange of individual stories and cultures across social divides.

In 2013, she founded The School of Narrative Dance, a nomadic, free school focused on non-hierarchical learning. The multidisciplinary school, conceived of as an alternative training ground, offers free workshops engaging local groups and public activations, where the artist and participants together orchestrate narratives, tracing new connections between contemporary relations. In November 2019, Senatore collaborated with Magazzino to bring The School of Narrative Dance to the streets of Cold Spring, engaging nearly 100 professional and amateur performers from throughout the Hudson Valley in a monumental procession and perfromative celebration of community.

Her work has been exhibited widely throughout Italy and abroad, including MANIFESTA 12, Palermo; Centre Pompidou, Paris; MAXXI Museum, Rome; Queens Museum, New York; Kunsthaus Zurich; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Kunsthalle, Sankt Gallen; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; High Line, New York; Madre Museum, Naples; Les Laboratories d’Aubervilliers, Paris; Faena Art Forum, Miami; Serpentine Gallery, London; Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid; Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; amongst others. Senatore has received numerous awards, including the 4^th edition of Italian Council (2018) of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Peripheries (DGAAP), International Art Grant in Dresden (2017), the MAXXI Prize (2014), and The New York Prize (2010).