Chiara Luzzana is an Italian artist and composer, active in both the advertising and artistic fields. She is considered by critics one of the most innovative and visionary

sound designer In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

s. In 2014, she founded the project "The Sound of City". As

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and composer, she records the sounds of cities and transforms them into

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

s and multimedia installations.

Early life and education

Born in

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

, Luzzana began her musical studies when she was very young, first dedicating herself to the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, then to the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and finally the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Not recognizing herself in the classical canons, she decides to abandon them and starting to make music using only

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

. In 2005, she became a

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

and later she studied at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, deepening her studies on the

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

of musical cognition and the production of soundtracks for films and advertisements.

Career

Based between

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, since 2010, she has divided her activity into two areas:

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

of soundtracks for brands and advertisements and

sound artist Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, ...

devoted to

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, using the noise as an instrument in her compositions. She signed the soundtracks for many brands, including:

Swatch Swatch is a Swiss watch company founded in 1983 by Ernst Thomke, Elmar Mock, and Jacques Müller. It is a subsidiary of The Swatch Group. The Swatch product line was developed as a response to the "quartz crisis" of the 1970s and 1980s, in whic ...

Lavazza Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. (), shortened and stylized as LAVAZZA, is an Italian manufacturer of coffee products. Founded in Turin in 1895 by Luigi Lavazza, it was initially run from a small grocery store at Via San Tommaso 10. The business (Italian: ...

, Alessi,

Nivea Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG, who also makes the Eucerin brand. ''Nivea'' comes from the Latin adjective ''ni ...

Costa Crociere Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1948 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to ...

Martini Martini may refer to: * Martini (cocktail), a drink made with gin and vermouth, garnished with an olive or a lemon twist * Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth * Martini (surname), an Italian surname * Martini (automobile company), a Swiss auto ...

; for each one she created the soundtrack starting from the original sound of the company, without musical instruments and transforming each sampling into a melody through the manipulation of the sound. In 2012, Luzzana won the SoundtrART prize of the

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo The Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo is a non-profit contemporary arts institution based in Turin, Italy, founded by arts collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 1995. History In 1995, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo established the Fon ...

with the opera ''Fragmento''. She designed the soundtrack for the documentary ''Shapes'' made with the Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, using the sounds and reverberations of Olivetti machines; the documentary was previewed in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

at the Biennale of Architecture 2012. Between 2014 and 2015, she was an

artist in residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. In 2015, she created for Swatch the project ''60 BPM-The Sound Of Swatch'', a composition made uniquely with the sound of over 2400

watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

es and their components. The project became a video documentary and a multimedia installation too, then presented at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

2015 during the "Swatch Faces 2015" exhibition. In 2016 the project was a finalist at the Music+Sound Awards as "Best Sound Design" in the ''Online category, Viral + Ambient Advertising''; in 2017 it won the MUSE Creative Awards in the ''Audio category'' as best soundtrack. In 2017, she composed ''The Extra Ordinary Metal Orchestra'' for Alessi, transforming 16 design objects made of

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

(trays, baskets, containers and fruit bowls) into an orchestra. For this project, Luzzana was inspired by the decoration of objects made by Alessi, decorated through a geometric motif generated by the

Fibonacci sequence In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...

; also the soundtrack is the composition and transformation of sound following the Fibonacci sequence. In 2019, the opera won the MUSE Creative Awards in the ''Content Marketing category''. In 2019, Luzzana created the official Lavazza soundtrack, ''The Perfect Coffee Symphony'', following through the sound the entire coffee production process, from

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

where she recorded the first beans in the coffee plantations up to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in the factories and laboratories by Lavazza. The sound project was presented at the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. From 2022, the festival was officially recognized as a competitive festival by the Internation ...

2019. In Venice, Luzzana presented together with

David Lachapelle David LaChapelle (born March 11, 1963) is an American photographer, music video director, and film director. He is best known for his work in fashion and photography, which often references art history and sometimes conveys social messages. His ...

the Lavazza 2020 Earth CelebrAction calendar, for the occasion she created the soundtrack that accompanied the photographer's shots. During the

Milan Furniture Fair Salone del Mobile or Milan Design Week (, but more commonly ''Salone del Mobile'') is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from ...

2019, collaborating with the Balich Worldwide Shows, she signed the outdoor audio-installation dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the death of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

entitled ''Aqua: the Vision of Leonardo''. At Fuorisalone her ''Denim Soundscape'' soundtrack accompanied the "Isko Denim Sound Textures" project, which was selected for the exhibition at the Design Link festival in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. For the XXII Triennale di Milano, she donated the work ''Haiti Sounds'' created with the sounds of the Haiti children's hospital to the Fondazione Francesca Rava. In 2020, she participated in the "Nice to meet you" exhibition promoted by SEA Aeroporti di Milano and curated by MEET Digital Culture Center Milano with ''The Sound of Milano'', an interactive installation that allows the visitor to

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

the sounds of the city and which is destined to remain in the airport.

The Sound of City

In 2014, Luzzana conceived the project "The Sound of City". She records the sounds of the main cities of the world with the aim of transforming them into soundtracks, using the cities as musical instruments. In November 2016, she presented the preview of the project inside the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, during the

Shanghai Biennale The Shanghai Biennale is one of the highest-profile contemporary art events in Shanghai and the most established art biennale in China. It was initially held in the Shanghai Art Museum. From 2012 on, it has been hosted in Power Station of Art, th ...

. In addition to the sound part, Luzzana shoots the videos of the sound recordings of the cities to create a documentary that will be released on the major

streaming platform An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satell ...

Artistic style

Luzzana creates music using only sounds or noises. After her initial classical studies she abandoned musical instruments to overturn the classical musical canons and devote herself to experimentation. Her compositional approach is a new method that she invented from scratch. Among her inspirers are

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental music, experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia (Berio), Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Seque ...

and

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

and all the experimental avant-garde of Cologne,

Luigi Russolo Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto '' The Art of Noises'' (1913). Russolo completed his second ...

and

Pierre Schaeffer Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer (English pronunciation: , ; 14 August 1910 – 19 August 1995) was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist, acoustician and founder of Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète (GRMC). His inno ...

Exhibitions

* 2012, Venice, Biennale of Architecture 2012, "Shapes" * 2015, Venice, Venice Biennale 2015, "60 BPM - The Sound Of Swatch" * 2019: ** Milan, Fuorisalone, "Aqua: Leonardo's Vision" ** Osaka, Design Link, "Denim Soundscape" ** Milan, Triennale di Milano, "Haiti Sounds" * 2020, Milan-Malpensa Airport, ''Nice to meet you'', "The Sound of Milan" * 2021, Milan, MEET, "MEET The Symphony"

Awards

* 2012, SoundtrART prize of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation for the opera "Fragmento" * 2017, wins the MUSE Creative Awards (International Advertising Awards) in the Audio category, for the work "60 BPM - The Sound Of Swatch" * 2019, wins the MUSE Creative Awards (International Advertising Awards) in the Content Marketing category, for the work "The Extraordinary Metal Collection"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luzzana, Chiara 1984 births Living people Italian women composers 21st-century Italian composers