Higueras, espacio sonoro (Higueras, sound space), by Carlos Izquierdo (Higueras, Alto Palancia)

CONFLUÈNCIES. Artistic interventions in the towns of Route 99

Higueras is a small municipality situated in exceptional surroundings, among ridges and ravines, the Aguanaj river and a plethora of natural springs inside the Sierra de Espadán National Park. The description may be intriguing to the eye – and indeed it is – but imagine for the hearing: endless details emerge of the gentle silence of this place to shape a unique soundscape, brimming with life.

I discovered Higueras on the first day of winter in 2021, on a first visit accompanied by Sandra Mar; and it gave me the chance to talk to Mercedes Gimeno, the Mayoress. This is how I learned about its demography, the municipality’s most important places and the cultural activities that take place throughout the year.

After this initial meeting, I began to link this information to my artistic work, which draws from listening as the action and sounds as the material with which to establish connections with the land, identity and memory.

You can download here the full information sheet about my intervention in Higueras. And in this link the Archivo de escuchas which I propose you, and with this another, access the register of the sound file I generated during my stay at Higueras.

Carlos Izquierdo (Alicante, 1982) defines himself as a composer, sound artist and curator. From a sensitivity towards the heritage, silence and soundscape, he develops projects that relate sound with the land, identity and memory, convinced of the importance of strengthening listening in art.