Berlin-based artists Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun retrace mathematician and astronomer Charles-Marie de La Condamine's journey to South America, though instead of the tropical wilderness, they’ve measured the urban jungle of Rio de Janeiro. Instead of compass and quadrant, their tools are microphone and recorder. What remains unchanged is the physical effort of exploring foreign terrain. On foot, and with an assortment of quasi-ritual exercises, the artists move from their residence in Rio to the triangular plaza Largo do Guimarães. At the end of their aural training session stands the ideal form of a place, an artificial sounding-body that seems strangely familiar in the way it further alienates the alien.
Paperback + CD, 15 x 20 cm., 16 pp.