Words. Parole che suonano (Words that sound) is an artistic project of reinterpretation of the documents preserved in the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Modena through their sound regeneration based on a process of data sonification.

Drawing on the series of Modena City Council resolutions from the 15th to the 20th century, the ritual formulas for the opening and opening of the first session of each register were transcribed every ten years, written in Latin, vernacular and Italian, depending on the period, with the aim of highlighting the transformations that the institutional language underwent over time and reflecting on the underlying social changes.

The over 3,000 text strings selected in this way were then digitised and fed into a self-generating algorithmic model, built by combining modern sound techniques with traditional musical grammar, to convert words into code and code into sound.

The sounds thus produced were then recomposed into an organic musical score, thanks to the work of Giuseppe Cordaro, composer and sound designer, and Corrado Nuccini, musician and art director.

The end result is an original elaboration of sounds made up of field recordings, electronic music, words and noises, archival research and artificial intelligence, capable of evoking the rituality and solemnity that have accompanied the 'institutional word' in the City Council over the centuries.

The work is further enriched by the sound commentary by Enrico Gabrielli on flute and clarinet and Adele Altro on saxophone, realised for FestivalFilosofia 2023 during the opening live performance.

The site-specific installation in the spaces of the Historical Archive visually amplifies the sonic scope of listening in a continuous exchange between reality and artifice, art and technology, past and future.

The project is conceived and promoted by the Culture Department of the Municipality of Modena and is the result of the collaboration between the Historical Archive and the Music Centre of the Municipality of Modena within the initiatives of Modena as a UNESCO Creative City for Media Arts.

Guided tours on Saturday 18 November 2023 and Saturday 10 February 2024 at 10.30 a.m.

info info.archivio.storico@comune.modena.it