Hyper Memory Installation #7- The Rain of Applause: BLM, 2020 recorded late May-late July, assembled August/September in Brooklyn The latest part in her creative field recording installation series called "The Rain of Applause" (est. 2012). This version takes various field recordings of applause from Black Lives Matter marches, vigils and other events and creates a dense new memory of this important movement in history. Hyper-memory Installations, or HMI for short, refers to Maria's specific composing practice with this project, taking audio memories (or .wav files) and layering them in various audibly dense configurations. The composing act of layering audio snapshots multiple times creates a conceptually jam packed day, hence the use of the word "hyper". By sonically placing multiple tiers of audio documentation, in this case the applause from the Black Lives Matters events, this form of creative field recording practice is aimed to view the sound of applause as a sound source, separating it from the role of applause as a reaction after performance/presentation. As the perception of the listener shifts some may mistake the recordings of applause as sounds from a rainstorm, others may feel the deeper intensity of the applause due to the content the subjects were reacting to. The piece is 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time George Floyd was suffocating for, and is meant to embody the spirit and intensity of the people who came out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement around NYC that Maria was able to attend. While the events she was able to attend were mainly in North Brooklyn (due to her fragile condition as she continues to heal from brain surgery), she hopes this piece helps to make those that were not able to participate feel as if they are standing in the middle of 50 New York Cities with all the Black Lives Matter events happening at once. As a victim of police brutality herself after being unjustly jailed for over 24 hours at the age of 20 in Houston, the murder of George Floyd along with the murder of Sandra Bland (who was unjustly arrested in the same area as Maria was) and so many others is especially triggering. It reminds her that the only reason why she is alive today is because she is not Black. If she was Black when she was thrown in jail she probably would have met Sandra's fate. A reality of her privilege that she is reminded of every day. "With love and in solidarity from my healing cocoon," Maria Chavez

Born in Lima, Peru and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist and DJ. Coincidence, chance & failures are themes that unite her book objects, sound sculptures, installations & other works with her improvised solo turntable performance practice. Her latest album, “Maria Chavez PLAYS Stefan Goldmann’s Ghost hemiola” was nominated for a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in Jan. of 2020. Currently, Maria is on the cover of the textbook on the History of Experimental & Electronic music by Routledge Publishing, is a David Tudor and Robert Rauschenberg Arts Fellow and a Research Fellow for Goldsmith's Sound Practice Research Department (2015-17). Her large scale sound & multi-media installations along with other works have been shown at the Getty Museum, the JUDD Foundation, Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germanyand HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste Basel) amongst many other institutions around the world. She is currently an artist in residence with EMPAC (The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) until 2022 and is on a medical sabbatical due to receiving brain surgery in Feb. 2019. She will return to performing for the public in 2022-23. She appreciates everyone's patience and compassion during this difficult time. www.mariachavez.org mariachavez.bandcamp.com soundcloud.com/maria-chavez www.instagram.com/chavezsayz/ twitter.com/Chavezsayz www.facebook.com/MariaChavezSound thecreativeindependent.com/people/sound-artist-maria-chavez-on-memory-trauma-and-imagining-a-new-world/