Protesis is a piece created in collaboration with the audiovisual artist Renata Daguerre. It was created specifically for the series smallforms in Vienna and presented in the venue Château Rouge in April 2022. 

VQ is a platform developed by Lara Alarcón with which she has performed over the past five years in a solo format.  Initially they were thought of as a series of pieces for stage voice based on the concept of prosthetic dialectics. This term is taken from mental health in which we convey the need of humans for support in a retroactive relation. Taking the concept of prosthetics as a way to understand the incompleteness of our individual beings, we compose ourselves in a variety of ways including the relying-on and support-of other individuals, objects or sounds.

In PRÓTESIS the artist not only relies on devices (amplifiers, electronics, pedals) to amplify meaning and gestures, but also a duplicated live camera to capture the symbiotic relation of the instrument and instrumentalist.

This piece looks for a minimum but wider semantic significance in order to reach the audience’s sensibility through loudness, feedback in sound and image. PRÓTESIS touches topics related to protolanguage, communicational gestures and more importantly an idea of disability. For which the artist states that art as a prosthetic for society, has the opportunity to create another system of values. This piece gives us the possibility to embrace the necessity and the lacking, understanding that individuality is only achieved in the collective, and for that we all work as a prosthetic for the other.

Lara Alarcón is a vocalist, composer and improviser. Her VQ performances/compositions implement the idea of prosthetic dialectics by the use and support of large amplifications, pedals, noise devices and other sonic complexities, with some extending to live video, live coding and within electroacoustic formats like electric trio, strings, and solo performances. Her music engages the listener in an intense way by using strong changes in dynamics, extended durations and a firm stage presence. Her performances push borders in disciplines and genre, always looking to engage her eclectic knowledge, background and experience.

She has performed in venues and festivals such as Teatro Argentino, Prozess Bern, Maerzmusik Berlin, ACUD macht neu, Heimathafen,  Kunstraum Bethanien, Small Forms Vienna, Língua Fora São Paulo, Conservatory of music Brooklyn, and has participated in residencies such as CTM Festival hacklab, SIM NYC, International Contemporary Ensemble NYC.

She co-founded and created the platform/label Numeral or Neue Numeral with which she curates releases and concert series such as: Numeral in Buenos Aires, ID# N in Fribourg CH, SDK in Bern CH. Hosting also FUTURE BASH series in Zukunft am Ostkreuz Berlin, and co-host LINKINBIOFESTIVAL.CH

Cover art by Kiterea
Photo by Caren Saner
All music by Lara Alarcón
Analog Video by Renata Daguerre
Recorded and mastered by Gustavo Petek