Derivatives > Nasdaq Voices
Fabio Cifariello Ciardi presents Nasdaq Voices, a sonic piece in real time, about buying and selling shares on the Nasdaq. The work reflects on stock market representation and was generated for the opening of Derivados in the courtyard of the La Casa Encendida.
The piece draws attention to the power of sound representation. At first we hear the chords of a guitar. Gradually the sound of a marimba can be distinguished. Then an electric piano joins in. One after another, we are introduced to an endless list of musical instruments. After a while the music gets into our heads. The question is where are we? What is it we are listening to? We would never for a moment suspect that we are listening to the movement of shares of firms, such as Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo, on the Nasdaq.
Cifariello uses musical language to generate a financial representation. What we are hearing is the same data normally presented to us by means of complicated diagrams. The installation, moreover, used a data link with real-time access to generate algorithmic sound patterns. Thus, Cifariello escapes from the visual field, in order to create alternative representations of the information. The piece is a powerful reminder of the current over-saturation of images we are subjected to, and a reflection on the way in which we capture information.
The field of finance is a fertile context for experimentation in the translation of the visual to the aural. The multi-tasking use of the senses is a habitual practice on trading floors. It is known, for example, that financial agents use their sight to study the narrow turf of the market in which they operate, and they stay in touch with the rest of the market, thanks to colleagues’ conversations overheard in the background. By reinserting sound into the individual experience of the market, the traditional concept of financial visualization is redefined.
Nasdaq Voices is strongly rooted in the current technological scene. Certainly, there is nothing new about filtering information through sound: practically all of us have seen war films in which enemy audio codes are deciphered. Nevertheless, Cifariello’s piece is only possible in the context of real time access to global information. Similarly, only the power of today’s computers make it possible to carry out the necessary data conversion to produce this algorithmic music.
Fabio Cifariello is a pioneer of electronic music. He studied Composition, Electronic Music and Musicology at the Conservatory of Music in Rome and at the University of Bologna. In 1991, he was chosen for the Computer Music Course at the IRCAM. In 1995, he was invited to the EMS of Stockholm as resident composer. In 2005, Cifariello performed Nasdaq Voices at the Sydney Opera House.
