For the second time, South Plug participates in the renowned Spanish festival Sónar this June 13, 14, and 15, 2024 with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, in part through the AI & Music program powered by S+T+ARTS. With an outstanding Latin presence, among them the Puerto Rican choreographer and dancer Kianí Del Valle, who will perform for the sixth time with a multidisciplinary show that will give food for thought. Montserrat Piffaut, journalist and cultural manager, and Esperanza Mena, journalist specialized in music and culture, had the opportunity to talk more in depth with Del Valle and Tayhana about their collaboration in the work “Cortex”.
Taíno named, an indigenous culture that inhabited Puerto Rico and the surrounding Caribbean prior to the Spanish conquest, Kianí Del Valle was studying visual arts in her native country when she began to accompany her performance works, capturing the attention of her mentor, painter Jose Luis Vargas, who recognized her talent and encouraged her to dance. It was thus, 20 years ago, that she began her journey of success in dance, including the creation of her company KDV Performance Group.
In her career, Del Valle has performed on various prestigious stages in the cities of Berlin, London, Paris, Los Angeles and New York, attracting a large audience in all her shows. She has also collaborated with renowned electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin, Clark (Warp Records), Objekt, Floating Points, Lotic, LSDXOXO, Lyra Pramuk, among others. This year, she will present the debut of “Cortex”, a work with the Barcelona studio composed by Anna Díaz and Pablo Barquín, Hamill Industries, and the Argentine producer Tayhana; the latter, musicalizing for the first time a high-level multidisciplinary project.
Cortex: 4 acts that move between life and death
The work was born in 2020 after experiencing a family loss, which prompted Kianí to study the historical enigmas of humanity and the coincidences of numerology. In the work, the artist questions the existence in the physical and spiritual field, the capabilities of the brain when the body is reaching its end, and the cycle of life. At the same time, she invites us to rethink Latin entropy, immigration and the colonization of spaces.
Hamill Industries
After 4 years of development and conceptualization, Cortex represents the process of mourning and personal growth, reinforcing the hypothesis that people are energy and that they transmute into light. The debut is Del Valle’s fourth collaboration with Hamill Industries.. The work is performed by 4 dancers: Kianí, Amanda, Nana, and Alvin, and is composed of 4 acts: limbo, invocation, awakening, and collective incarnation. The creative studio, Hamill Industries, was in charge of working on the visuals using Artificial Intelligence, a tool that Kianí values as an archeological artifact and for its ability to invoke emotions. In this regard, she comments: “I want to work with the error, see what happens, and make something more human”.
KDV Performance Group
Tayhana’s music in Cortex previews her new album
Co-creator of HiedraH Club and collaborator in Naafi, Mexican record label under which she released her first album “Tierra del Fuego”, Tayhana’s music has taken “Club Latinx” to different parties and corners of the world as well as inspired the emergence of a large number of new Latin DJs and producers, especially women.
In Cortex, the artist will present different sound pieces created exclusively for the show in an intensive work that took 3 weeks, which will be the basis of her new album to be released soon. About this composition, she comments: “I am very happy that this will become my second album and that it will be with Kianí and Cortex as an artistic piece”.
The work will be an eclectic journey of 40 minutes, which will transit through ambient nostalgia, choral arrangements, moments and symphonic sounds that will revive her passage through classical music at the age of 6, introducing chaos, paying tribute to her Argentine roots with South American percussions, and breaking with structures incorporating the flavor of cumbia and reggaeton.
Photo by Helena Cícero.
Elenco Cortex
Director and Choreographer: Kianí Del Valle
Dancers and Co-Creators: Alvin Collantes, Amanda Donato, Nana, Kianí Del Valle
Creative Technology: Hamill Industries
Music and Sound: Tayhana
Creative Producer and Conceptual Playwright: Elizabeth Hinojos
Process Creative Playwright/Assistant Choreographer: Rubén Nsue
Project Manager: Masha Mitroshina
Costumes: @lennibubi
Light Designer: Catalina Joy
Production Assistance: Irene Arcas
Internal support KDV: Bence Ungvári
Latin talent at Sónar
Also participating in its 2024 edition will be Latin talents Dj Fucci (Mexico), DJ Gatasanta (Colombia), Slim Soledad (Brazil), Diva Cruz (Colombia), and Tayhana with a DJ Set in which she will be accompanied by Simona, Slim Soledad, and Mare Advertencia on June 14 at the SonarCar stage at 3:15 am. Additionally, at Sónar +D, artist and researcher Nicole L’Huillier (Chile) will give a masterclass on how she integrates AI into her creative processes.
Get your tickets to Sónar here.
