Addis Ababa – Italian Cultural Institute

Addis Ababa – Italian Cultural Institute, 2014-2019

Between 2014 and 2019, I conducted four artistic residencies at the Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa, developing a multi-year research project on the soundscapes of Ethiopia.

The main project, ELQE – Eres lo que escuchas (You are what you listen to), was an in-depth investigation of Ethiopian soundscapes: a journey through the sounds and voices of rural markets in small villages to the largest African market in Addis Ababa, an immersion in the transient sounds that populate the streets from one village to another, from a school to a water well. The project, developed during the Master’s degree in Sound Arts, gave rise to compositions, installations and audiovisual documentation.

During the residencies, I also curated the concept and music for the dance show Dancing the Land with Shiferaw Tariku, created a training workshop for sound technicians, and developed the project IMBYA (I’m because you are), an investigation into the relationship between identity and listening in the Ethiopian context.