Diogo Carriço holds a master degree in Live Electronics by the Conservatorium of Amsterdam and a bachelor degree in Classical Piano Performance by the School of Applied Arts of Castelo Branco. He was awarded by the Portuguese National Centre of Culture the “Young Creators” prize for “Adventurous music with piano and electronics” – an immersive performance, crossing piano, electronics and visuals in real time. Carriço has performed in numerous locations and events, pointing up MaderiaDig, Gaudeamus, Haarlem Philharmonie, Popronde, Splendor, EYE filmmuseum, Uitmarkt festival, and Hard Club Porto, as well as appeared in media as De Groene Amsterdammer, RTP Madeira, Glam Magazine and A Cabine.
RADAR Festival Beyond Music has the primary goal to present musical projects dealing with a wide spectrum of artistic forms. When did you become aware of the limitedness of your own artistic form, or, to put it in other words, when did your radar detect the need for multidisciplinary?
At the time, I was studying classical piano. I wanted to create a performance that had more of myself and would be more immersive for the audience. With the resources I had, the logical conclusion was to play for mute cinema. I ended up never doing that though, because one day I saw a concert where visuals reacted to the music being played. Very simple line moving, very simple sphere growing. But it was programmed to react live, and if that was possible a lot more would be too. That was the point of no return.
Which three words describe the motivation behind your project?
People, Nature, Technology
How much of your artistic devotion is inevitable?
Good question. I believe all of it, because I can not not do it. Just like the sculpture exists already in the marble block before it was carved, when composing for example, all I can do is become better at reaching the track that exists already somewhere. And I’m incapable of just leaving it.
If you could create a project in another artistic field or form, what would it be?
Street art, or art in the public space. I’m obviously drawn to experiencing art you sought to experience, such as concerts. But there’s a beautiful and spontaneous side to being struck by an unplanned encounter with a public artwork. Even if you walk past it everyday, it still exerts its influence, and is continuously shared by everyone.
2023 is your personal year for…?
Finally realizing ideas that I had for a long time. I had the chance to work with incredible computer controlled instruments, namely the Disklavier piano and Hyperorgans, which open up crazy sonic possibilities. The contact I had with these instruments will change the way I make music in general. Besides that, and if everything works out according to plan, I’ll be releasing my debut album Silhouette Nekropolis.
When is music beyond?
When it draws us from everyday life noise, causes a reaction and connects.
Which is your personal radar?
No idea. I would call it a mess of radars. It could be food, different types of music, or a conversation. Life in general, I suppose.
The format of RADAR Festival Beyond Music takes into consideration the artistic potential of new technologies and their supplementary functions. What is the significance of technologies in your own work?
Technology is central to my work. Naturally, as a means of producing sound, but also to reflect and be inspired by the dilution of borders between human and machine. Technology allows acoustic, electronic and visual elements to react to each other, but it also allows me to manipulate sound directly and intuitively through hand gestures. Traditionally, pianists strive to have the piano mechanism as an extension of their arms. I like to think that technology lets me have the circuits as an extension of my tendons. Everything is connected and part of the same whole.
We often have resident projects at our festival that are spontaneous or dependent on variables, which makes them resistant to reenactment or repetition in the same way. In a sense, these projects remain here and now. What is your reflection upon ‘here and now’?
Here and now is probably the strongest reason to come to live concerts. It is possible to have access to outstanding records and sound quality from home nowadays. What differentiates a live event is the presence, energy and idiosyncrasies of that day, place, time, mood, audience, etc. I don’t see myself as an improviser, but I like to use techniques that make it practically impossible to repeat exactly. Along the show there are parts that never sound the same. The use of hand gestures to manipulate sound is one of those techniques. Given that it involves moving in a free 3D space, with no clear boundaries in the air, like the keys are on the piano, it is virtually impossible to reproduce a performance exactly. It will always be attached to what I felt was needed at that moment.
What can we expect from you in Varna on 06.08?
Immersion in fluid yet restless soundscapes of a minimalist piano infused with electronic experimentalism. Musical expression through hand gestures. To be propelled to a continuous drift through dissolved visuals between real and imaginary.
I’ll be presenting the audiovisual showthat, ahead of its release, accompanies my debut album Silhouette Nekropolis, entailing a submersion in a coral reef’s dreamy yet confronting lifetime journey, as an intimate door to our own fragility.
Превод от английски език: Руслан Славов
