Body of Reverbs / JUDAEAN DESERT

Body of Reverbs is a performative sound-art collective project focusing on the tattoo practice – created and curated by Michele Servadio. Its intent is – through the live sound manipulation of the performance – to develop a new language and override the canonic tattoo imagery, and to ultimately give back a deeper, cathartic meaning that will resonate (or rather: reverb) both on the subject and the audience. Abandoning all the aesthetic dogmas, the tattoo becomes abstract, the body a passage through which the needles’ vibrations are amplified and elaborated in real time, intertwining in a palpable, evocative emotional canvas.

Judaean Desert documents an intimate session in which Body of Reverbs are joined by a group of fellow artists and friends, culminating in an extemporary collective performance – a unique experience in the open, powerfully charged desert lying east of Jerusalem. While Servadio slowly proceeds in his act, the small group gathers closer, following the hypnotic rhythm of the needle reverberating through a simple mono amp; handclaps, banging of rocks and sparse percussion begin to amass, a collection of crude sounds echoing in the vast emptiness. As the performance progresses towards its crescendo, so does the improvised orchestra, honing in on a climax of ecstatic noise and primitive rejoicing.

This one-hour long session – which was recorded and filmed in its entirety – has been edited and cut into two excerpts, and aims to convey to the viewer the feeling of an extraordinary, unimagined collective energy.

In this performance Body of Reverbs were:
Michele Servadio, Alberto Brunello, Mik Boiter, Caro Ley.