In the realm of acoustic hyper-reality we meet aural simulacra of the order of maleficence. These are audio signals that mask and denature a profound acoustic reality. They are referential and representational, but in a way that they dissimulate reality and become its twisted Doppelgängers. Simulacra of the order of maleficence are perversions of reality. With the sound artwork ‘Natural Perversion v 2.0’ Through a set of sonic processes the artist delves into autogenerative, autopoietic, responsive and biomimetic modes of creation exploring how the original naturally produced audio signal can be transformed into a sonic caricature and depending on the way it balances between its signifier and its signified aspect, it may re-interpret naturally produced concrete audible events into a musical language which serves both the acousmatic and the non-cochlear approaches to contemporary sound art.

Natural Perversion was initially presented at the 17th Audiovisual arts festival during the pandemic, in video format, online. This format was chosen as it is important to communicate the source material to the audience with the use of text. Therefore the audience could focus not only on the acousmatics and musicality of the audible outcome, but by becoming aware of what the acoustic reality that generated that outcome is, they could perceive the conceptual, emotional and metaphoric interpretations that derive from the instrumentalization and textures of each part.

The full artwork which consists of eight tracks is available via Bandcamp.

The physical version of the artwork was presented as part of the Athens Digital Art Festival of 2021. For that purpose the archeological site of the clock of Andronicus Kyreste (Tower of the Winds) was utilized for the first time as an artwork installation location. The tower served as a portal of passage from reality to hyperreality. At the door of the site two loudspeakers reproducing the original recordings were set up, while deep inside the tower another pair was playing back in unison the corresponding aural simulacra. This way work was transformed into an experiential installation for the visitors who ventured through the barrier between the real and the hyperreal, underlining the ever increasing phenomenon of the precession of the simulacra.