Gritar, No Caer is a psychic landscape that generates paradoxes and phenomena, a sonic mirage and a proof-of-concept for electromagnetism and radio transmissions. It captures and compresses the space and vastness of a territory into the physical act of transmission, just as oral culture has resisted centuries of nomadic settlements and animal migrations in the mysterious Zone of Silence, a vast desert area located on the edge of the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve in Durango, Mexico, the subject of popular and pseudoscientific beliefs and the geographic-symbolic core of this experience.
During a research trip, Fonassi initiated a series of radio experiments in various areas of the desert using a pickup truck equipped with mobile listening, emission, and transmission units—a sound system, tape recorders, a shortwave transmitter/receiver, samplers, and so on—proceeding through configurations and implementations of radio bridges. Far from offering a literal description of the territory—or recording it, according to field recording practices—Gritar, No Caer proposes a form of active listening that seeks not to dominate the space, but rather to simultaneously contaminate and interrogate it. Fragments of electronic compositions, tape loops, interference and distortions, spoken words of legends and indigenous poetry, rhythmic cells, and the sounds of pre-Columbian aerophones constitute the sonic body used during the broadcast sessions. This solitary and oracular listening intertwines with natural magic practices and pseudoscientific speculations that permeate the area, giving rise to a liminal zone where sound becomes presence, signal, and invocation.
The imagery surrounding the Zone of Silence adds a further layer of meaning to this exploration: radio waves struggle to travel, mysterious lights cross the sky, and magnetic anomalies alter the psycho-geographical perception of the place. Some attribute these phenomena to meteorite strikes in the 1970s, others to military experiments or inexplicable geographic features. This territory, at the crossroads of science and mysticism, thus becomes an active field of study and research.
Gritar, No Caer is part of The Oracular Eavesdropper, a project by Francesco Fonassi, winner of the 13th edition of the Italian Council by DGCC of MIC (Ministry of Culture) with Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde. In collaboration with Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Bolzano), ESAD, École supérieure d’Art de Grenoble (Grenoble), El Eco Experimental Museum (Mexico City) and other partners such as Xing (Bologna) and qwatz, contemporary art platform (Rome).
The project included a period of research and production in Mexico, culminating in an audiovisual performance at the Museo Experimental El Eco in Mexico City. In summer 2026, after being performed in different Italian venues, the project was presented in Copenhagen as a multichannel sound installation in Frederiksberg Square—as part of the Sound Wells program and show (tbd), along with a seminar at Frederiksberg Library —and then in its final form at the Museion in Bolzano as a permanent sound intervention, in dialogue with the public space.
The imagery surrounding the Zone of Silence adds a further layer of meaning to this exploration: radio waves struggle to travel, mysterious lights cross the sky, and magnetic anomalies alter the psycho- geographical perception of the place. Some attribute these phenomena to meteorite strikes in the 1970s, others to military experiments or inexplicable geographic features. This territory, at the crossroads of science and mysticism, thus becomes an active field of study and research.
The project included a research and production period—organized in two different phases in early 2025—in Mexico, concluding with an audiovisual performance at the Museo Experimental El Eco in Mexico City. In November 2025 the project is presented at Xing, Bologna, Italy. In June 2026, the project will be presented in Copenhagen as a multichannel sound installation at Frederiksberg Square, as part of the Sound Wells program and ‘The Sound Of’ exhibition alongside a seminar curated by Christian Skovbjerg Jensen and Francesco Fonassi, before arriving in its final form at Museion in Bolzano.
Permanent Sound Intervention at Museion, Bolzano, I
On May 28, a permanent sound intervention for public space was presented at Museion in Bolzano, Italy. A custom-made speaker horn has been permanently installed on the museum’s rooftop, facing the public park, diffusing a sound composition drawn from the radio expedition in the desert. As a sibylline and mysterious acoustic phenomenon appearing to the ears, the piece surfaces intermittently, one to three times a week. Its activation times, volume thresholds, and sonic reach are shaped in dialogue with the city’s noise pollution regulations and local authorities. A VHF radio signal is broadcasted permanently alongside it, allowing the work to bridge with a second emission system within range, inside or outside the museum. The work will enter Museion’s permanent collection, together with a photographic and video series and a sound composition on reel-to-reel tape.
This record collects a selection of materials from the project archive, including vocal narratives and poetry, fragments of traditional music from the desert, samples and compositions capturing examples of these visionary landscape radio intermissions.
Composed and mixed by: Francesco Fonassi
Mastered by: Matt Bordin
Curated by: Matteo Binci
Photography: Francesco Fonassi
Video stills: Nata Failde
Graphic design: Another Studio
Published by: Viaindustriae Suono & Villa Recordings
Printed in May, 2026 in the edition of 500.
A/V performances at El Eco Experimental Museum, Mexico City (MEX) and Raum, Xing, Bologna (I)