Tim Hecker presents Wastelands: Inaugural Talk and Exhibition (MUAC & MUTEK MX Collaboration)

This new piece by Tim Hecker (Vancouver, 1974), commissioned by MUAC, represents the natural continuation of over 25 years of work and an interesting stylistic turn in his career. Here, field recordings from desolate and abandoned ecosystems from across the United States are added to his acclaimed mixture of experimental ambient, noise, microsound, glitch and postminimalist rhythmic patterns. These ecologies have been deeply affected by human activity that inform and modify the sounds of Wastelands, producing results that are simultaneously melancholy and sinister.

This composition is situated at the very juncture where the destruction of the landscape gives rise to a profoundly melancholic beauty, accentuating its most postapocalyptic elements: the almost desperate songs of the animals, furious vibrations that suddenly drop out and moments of electronic tension. By capturing these environments, Hecker seems to confront a particular moment of planetary desolation, not just environmentally, but also socially, politically and perhaps even aurally.