A Vuoto: Gesture, Non-Dualism and Inoperativity in Musical Improvisation

This poster presents A Vuoto, a PhD project that investigates musical improvisation through the relationship between body, instrument, and gesture. As a double bass player and improviser, I explore performative situations in which gesture can be partially withdrawn from its functional relation to sound production, questioning interpretations of embodiment that identify the body as the primary site of artistic production.
The research develops through different performative practices. Muta, a performance for three double basses and two performers, investigates changing configurations between bodies and instruments, generating situations in which performers and instruments partially lose their conventional functions. Relazione a distanza, a performance for one prepared double bass and two performers, extends this investigation through systems of remote activation using strings, fishing lines, and other materials, creating conditions in which gesture becomes separated from its immediate sonic function.
These practices are examined through Giorgio Agamben’s notion of inoperativity as the suspension of productive function. Through the practice of suonare a vuoto—an action deliberately without a direct outcome—gesture is withdrawn from its finality, allowing a dimension of potentiality to emerge. In this way, the project approaches improvisation not simply as musical production, but as a field in which relations between body, instrument, gesture, and sound remain open.