Resonant
Jesús Osorio y Marcelo Moscheta
ArtistasConceived specifically for the Casa de Las Chirimías, the exhibition RESONANTE emerges from a profound dialogue between the tower's interior space and the auditory presence of the Darro River, which flows alongside it. Like a resonating chamber, a vibrant murmur reminds us of the living presence of the water descending from the Sierra de Huétor, tracing a line between the historic hills of Albaicín and Sabika.
Although small, the Darro River holds vital significance for the city. It was the backbone of Muslim Granada and nourishes the gardens of the Alhambra with its waters. Its name, derived from Dauro and Dat Aurum (meaning "of gold"), alludes to the presence of gold in its bed—a reality and a symbol of the natural and historical wealth of this river that shapes much of Granada’s life and identity.
Beside it, the Casa de Las Chirimías served as a platform for authorities and a dungeon for outlaws, a privileged lookout and a stage for musical performances featuring chirimías (a type of shawm) and possibly trumpets. It was both a loudspeaker and a home, sometimes inward-facing and almost always outward-facing. Strategically located, the small tower—both observer and observed—has spent over four centuries perceiving and reverberating the impulses of the life unfolding at its feet.
Between the house that welcomes and the house that offers, there is a flow of elements exploring the oppositions between fluidity and solidity, between resonance and distortion. Through waves, frequencies, and reverberations that permeate the building's space, this exhibition reveals an invisible yet ever-present matter, manifested through the eternal sound of water flowing between rocks, through the walls, and out the windows of the tower.
Resonance is the ability to prolong the vibration of one object to make another vibrate more intensely. This occurs when the frequency of one object matches the resonant or natural frequency of the other. To resonate is also to establish a connection between artistic exploration and the world, generating new changes with the openness required to transform and be transformed.
Stone, graphite, gold, and copper float and inhabit the walls of the house like celestial bodies in opposition, creating tensions between the images and the materials that compose them, while graphically representing a dance of vibrant relationships. This transformation unfolds in the invisible movements that traverse geographical space and historical time, addressing the mutation of substances.
Reflections, projections, and juxtapositions of elements compose a dance of cosmic forces orbiting the three rooms, connecting the memory of stones to that of the walker who selected them. Gathered from the bed of the Darro River, these stones—now organized, cut, pierced, and coated in gold—whisper stories that might have been lost to time.