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Cartographies for the Present

Improvisations for viola & electronics · 2025

Diego Kohn playing viola in an open shelter above a railway yard in Zürich, surrounded by microphones, a small amplifier and effect pedals

Cartographies for the Present is a series of improvisations for viola and electronics that explores the notion of mapping the present through sound. I approach improvisation as a space of encounter: between cultures, identities, memories, and geographies. These pieces emerge from a desire to listen to the present moment and to trace, through spontaneous musical gestures, the emotional and symbolic landscapes I inhabit. Improvisation becomes both a method and a metaphor for navigating the complexity of belonging and movement across borders.

This four-part video series was recorded in April 2025 during a single session at my atelier on the outskirts of Zürich. Captured one after the other, the improvisations form an extended, improvised suite, a continuous cartography of the here and now, shaped through acoustic resonance and electronic transformation.

Each piece invites a distinct mode of listening, offering multiple paths through the sonic terrain of the present.

The series premiered online in June 2025 in the En Casa series of Americas Society, New York.

Format
Improvisations for viola and electronics
Recorded
Live at Basislager Studios, Zürich, April 2025
Presented
En Casa, Music of the Americas, Americas Society, New York (online, June 2025)
Concept & viola
Diego Kohn
Cameras
Samuel Bucher
Audio recording
Samuel Bucher
Video editing
Ferran Gorrea

The four parts

Cartographies for the Present I 5:04
Cartographies for the Present II 5:54
Cartographies for the Present III 7:16
Cartographies for the Present IV 8:49

Stills

Side view of Diego Kohn bowing the viola, railway tracks behind him
Close-up of Diego Kohn playing viola
Close-up of the viola and bow

Stills from the videos.

Presented by Americas Society

Americas Society is a New York institution dedicated to the arts and cultures of the Americas. Together with Council of the Americas it forms AS/COA. Its music program, Music of the Americas, presents concerts of music from across the hemisphere.

En Casa (At Home) began during the pandemic, when Americas Society had to close its building on Park Avenue. Musicians from across the Americas record performances where they live and work; the series has grown into an archive of more than 600 videos. Cartographies for the Present was released there in four installments from 17 June 2025.