Matanzas Sound Map is a multisensory installation exploring the region of Matanzas, Cuba: birthplace of artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Created with composer and musician Neil Leonard, the work fills three rooms with sculpture, sound, live plants and video to create a layered portrait of place.

Blue teardrop-shaped glass and metal sculptures reference ancient mourning vessels, while yellow and brown forms evoke tools used in sugar refining and rum production. Audio recordings and a specially adapted soundscape turn the space into what Leonard calls “a new space for collective listening.”

A drawing of a 500-year-old ceiba tree, wrapped around a sugar mill gear, becomes a metalwork centerpiece. Together, the elements trace daily life, ritual, memory and resistance through the material and sonic culture of Matanzas.

Originally created for Documenta 14 in Athens, the installation has been reimagined for the acoustic and spatial setting of the Tanks.

Artwork : Matanzas Sound Map, 2017 · © Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard