Artist Statement/ Biography

Working with sound allows Thessia Machado to think of air as yet another physical material. It gets pushed around by sound waves and it, in turn, pushes in on our bodies and the spaces we are in. As it bounces and is deflected by the different materials and objects, sound changes and acquires a new character that is particular to the place and time of the event.

A non-hierarchical approach to sound (isn’t it all noise?) and its organizational principles (this doesn’t sound like music!) allows for the uncovering and exposing of latent patterns and systems that hide in the unremarkable. The aim is to play with and explore simple and ingenious ways to extract the most poetic content with the least imposition onto the materials.

The sound of physics.

Rubber bands and sine waves.

Thessia Machado was born in Brazil and now lives and works in NY. Her work investigates the physicality of sound and its effect on our perception of space. Lately she’s created pieces that also function as unorthodox instruments.

Thessia’s installations and video pieces have been exhibited in New York, London, Philadelphia, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Berlin and Athens. She has been awarded residencies at the NARS Foundation, I-Park, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Vermont Studio Center and is a recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The Experimental Television Center and The Bronx Museum.