That our computers and synthesizers depend on minerals is not new. Minerals are crucial for the circuits of necrocapitalist extractivism. But what are the domestic infrastructures that sustain the circuit machinery?
But what are the domestic infrastructures that sustain these same machines? What forms of care, repair, and unpaid labor make technological creation possible — and audible?
Together with the artist Moira Meine Fuentes, the duo Die Primas approached this question through a series of gestures that cut into the mineral and gendered economies of sound. In Domestic Minerals, the cut is both conceptual and material: a separation that makes connection possible. Following Marina Vishmidt’s notion of the cut as an act of critique and composition, we use it to intervene in the inherited lineage of electronic sound-making — one historically engineered and dominated by men.
Our setup replaces the modular synthesizer with domestic assemblages: a copper cooking pot (echoing the ollas comunes and cacerolazos of Chile), an ironing board (a support structure built from unpaid labor), stones wired through copper tape and Arduino circuits, and a small Casio keyboard.
These elements form a precarious instrument that refuses mastery. Through them, we ask:
What would electronic instruments sound like if they hadn’t been created by men?
Perhaps the answer is not a new instrument, but a cut — a way of reassembling the mineral, the domestic, and the sonic into something else: a gesture of listening, care, and interruption.
More specifically, the performance consisted of a setup for an experimental instrument based on Crystal Unclear: Composition III Tourmaline, alongside Dennis P. Paul’s WELLEN library for Processing. The instrument’s cables are connected to specific parts of our bodies: Moira’s nipples and Marcela’s belly, which, at the time of the performance, was carrying her baby. Alongside this setup, a geophone, a keyboard, and a computer running VCV Rack 2 were used for sound synthesis.
During the first part of the performance, we each attach the cables to the other’s body. After a few minutes of improvisation, Moira reads the text below in Spanish, while Marcela translates it line by line into English.
The performance concludes with a cover of La Noche, originally by Salvatore Adamo and performed by the Chilean band Los Prisioneros. Moira and Marcela sing together.More specifically, the performance consisted of a setup for an experimental instrument based on Crystal Unclear: Composition III Tourmaline, alongside Professor Dennis P. Paul’s WELLEN library. The instrument’s cables are connected to specific parts of our bodies: Moira’s nipples and Marcela’s belly, which, at the time of the performance, was carrying her baby. Alongside this setup, a geophone, a keyboard, and a computer running VCV Rack 2 were used for sound synthesis.
During the first part of the performance, we each attach the cables to the other’s body. After a few minutes of improvisation, Moira reads the text below in Spanish, while Marcela translates it line by line into English.
The performance concludes with a cover of La Noche, originally by Salvatore Adamo and performed by the Chilean band Los Prisioneros. Moira and Marcela sing together.The performance concludes with a cover of La Noche, originally by Salvatore Adamo and performed by the Chilean band Los Prisioneros. Moira and Marcela sing together.
TODOS QUERÍAMOS SER KRAFTWERK
sonidos extraños, sinónimo de complicados, contemporáneos, experimental, música concreto, difícil, hombre, muy muy hombre.
Vanguardista, modular, bien pensada y al azar, cara de concentración y el labio apretado.
UNA TRANSICIÓN ES UN EMBARAZO
Hola wawa, Cómo estai? Soy la Moira y estamos aquí con tu mami en la Mensa13, hoy es el Modular Monday - estamos haciendo una performance.
Hace un rato estábamos jugando a ser Kraftwerk (o algo similar) jugamos con elementos musicales que no se ven ni se tocan : La seguridad y el goce.
Nosotras, die Primas - si, nos llamamos Die Primas, ___________________________
también queríamos hacer música y divertirnos y olvidarnos de cocinar y pagar las cuentas.
Para preparar esta pequeña performance, estuvimos jugando y probando con diferentes materias y cositas como por ejemplo……………
Aquí estamos, utilizando un Geophone que en un principio creo que fue creado por los franceses para detectar los campo minado alemán y luego se utilizó por los gringos para seguir el petroleo. y ahora estamos jugando con el, imaginate!
Además, tenemos un Hydrophone, que bueno fue creado para escuchar a las ballenas, ….. mamíferos al igual que nosotr… guaguas… el agua… pero esos son carísimos. Acá solo tenemos uno que lo hicieron unas lesbianas en Chile, super penca el micrófono, pero tenemos que apoyarnos de alguna forma igual.
Además estamos intentando entender-jugar con el programa de Dennis, lo del código no lo entiendo muy bien, pero da igual, la Marce flipa con eso.
Bueno, te preguntarás que son todos estos sonidos metálicos. En parte vienen vienen del alma metalera de tu mami - mother32 y en otra la madre de todas las madres: el cobre.
El cobre wawita, es un mineral que sostiene nuestro día a día. El cobre está en las cañerías, en nuestro cuerpo y en gran parte de los aparatos “tecnológicos” que utilizamos hoy. Este mineral además sostiene la economía de Chile.
Hay algo que tampoco se ve ni se toca es lo que sostiene todo lo que acabo de contar
… Hablo del trabajo doméstico y el cuidado que hacen / hacemos las mamás, las hermanas, las abuelas, las amigas, las vecinas y las tías en las casas. Hablo, de cocinar, planchar, sobar, dar consejos, limpiar, etc.
Para que cada honre DM
Quienes son las mamitas y las parejas de Kraftwerk?
( MÚSICA MAESTRAAAA)
(Translation made with DeepL)
WE ALL WANTED TO BE KRAFTWERK
Strange sounds—synonymous with complex, contemporary, experimental, musique concrète, difficult, manly—very, very manly.
Avant-garde, modular, well-thought-out yet random, a focused expression and a tight-lipped look.
Synthetic
A TRANSITION IS A PREGNANCY
Hi, Wawa, how are you? I’m Moira, and we’re here with your mom at Mensa13. Today is Modular Monday—we’re putting on a performance.
A little while ago we were playing at being Kraftwerk (or something like that); we played with musical elements that can’t be seen or touched: safety and pleasure.
We, die Primas—yes, we’re called Die Primas, ___________________________
also wanted to make music and have fun and forget about cooking and paying the bills.
To prepare for this little performance, we’ve been playing around and experimenting with different materials and little things, such as……………
Here we are, using a geophone—which I think was originally created by the French to detect German minefields and was later used by the Americans to track oil. And now we’re playing with it—can you believe it!
We also have a hydrophone—well, it was created to listen to whales… mammals just like us… babies… water… but those are super expensive. Here we only have one that was made by some lesbians in Chile; the mic is really crappy, but we’ve got to make do somehow.
We’re also trying to figure out—and play around with—Dennis’s program. I don’t really understand the code, but it doesn’t matter; Marce is totally into it.
Well, you’re probably wondering what all these metallic sounds are. Partly, they come from your mom’s metalhead soul—mother32—and partly from the mother of all mothers: copper.
Copper, wawita, is a mineral that sustains our daily lives. Copper is in our pipes, in our bodies, and in most of the “technological” devices we use today. This mineral also sustains Chile’s economy.
There’s something else that can’t be seen or touched, yet it’s what sustains everything I just mentioned
… I’m talking about the housework and care that moms, sisters, grandmothers, friends, neighbors, and aunts do in our homes. I’m talking about cooking, ironing, kneading dough, giving advice, cleaning, and so on.
So that everyone honors DM
Who are Kraftwerk’s moms and partners?
MUSIC OUTLOUD, MASTER!
The first version of this performance took place on October 20th at Mensa13 Bremen, under the series of short and experimental performances space offered by Modular Monday
