Interpretation for Contested Desires Constructive Dialogues isntallation in Muhnac museum of Lisbon, displayed within the project of Paul Nataraj from 12 of February 2026.

The explorer Vasco de Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal and reached India, marking an important moment in the European colonial project. This voyage therefore, has deeply felt reverberations in shaping the structures of our contemporary global relationships both historic and current.

This composition explores the tensions inherent in early narratives of exploration, where curiosity, ambition, and desire for discovery are inseparable from domination and violence. The piece integrates recorded non musical objects such as: an electric razor, glass objects, and a hair dryer alongside synthesized textures and a sampled whale song, constructing a layered sonic field in which mechanical tension and organic resonance continuously negotiate space. These frictions evoke both the precarity of a dangerous journey and the vastness of the unknown, while subtly recalling the disruptive and extractive dynamics that underpinned colonial expansion.

An atmosphere of tension and unease initially shapes the listening experience, yet gradual harmonic shifts into major tonalities emerge throughout the work. These moments lead the listener toward wonder, emotional openness, and astonishment at discovery. Within the framework of contested desires, such harmonic clarity becomes ambivalent: it reflects the curiosity that fueled exploration while simultaneously echoing the seductive narratives that historically obscured colonial violence and trauma.

An experimental track born from a fully physical sound design process. All sound sources were recorded from non-musical objects — wine glasses, an electric razor, and a painter’s canvas — approached as surfaces and mechanisms rather than “instruments.” The result is a piece with low melodic density and a strong sense of material presence.

Recording process of soundscapes using non musical objects

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