CRUZEIRO, sound intervention, 2014

Seven battery-powered radios play overlapping static around a cemetery’s cruzeiro das almas—“soul’s crossing”—until their batteries are exhausted.

The cruzeiro das almas is a feature of Catholic-designed cemeteries that is also used as a ritual site by Umbanda practitioners. The radios are tuned between stations and produce static with no audible transmission, treating interference as a possible channel between chance, electronic voice phenomena, Brazilian religious practices, and devotional listening.

Presented during the second Semana de Ocupação Urbana in Criciúma, Brazil. Curated by Ana Clara Campagnollo, Mauricio Bittencourt, and Vanessa Biff.