Group of improvised music formed in 2001 in Barcelona by Ruth Barberán, Alfredo Costa Monteiro and Matt Davis. In 2003, it became a duo.
I treni inerti proposes a music whithout ornaments, where silence is essential, as part of an ongoing process of bringing vacuum necessary in order to achieve both minimal and ephemeral sound worlds, in an approach that focuses on harmony, vibration and acoustic resonance. It is a continuous shift between what is audible and undetectable, what is private and what is shared, what is static and changing, silence and presence.
Ruth Barberán (Barcelona, 1966) / Ruth Barberán is an audiovisual artist, combines her sonorous works (using trumpet and amplified objects) with those in the videocreation area. She started to centre her work in the free improvisation since her integration in 1999 in the IBA collective of Barcelona. At present she has two stable groups inside this field: i treni inerti (with Alfredo Costa Monteiro) and a trio with Ferran Fages and Alfredo Costa Monteiro. Besides this she collaborates frequently with other musicians such as Pablo Rega, Dorothee Schmitz, Guillermo Torres and Margarida García.
Alfredo Costa Monteiro (Porto, 1964) / Lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. He plays accordion, electric guitar, turntable, electro-acoustic devices and resonant objects. He studied sculpture/multimedia at the fine art school in Paris with Christian Boltanski. In 1992, he moved to Barcelona. Since then, his work stands somewhere between visual arts, visual poetry and sound. His installations and sound pieces, all of a low-fi character, have in common an interest for unstable processes, where the manipulation of objects as instruments or instruments as objects has a strong phenomenological aspect. From 1998 to 2006, he was member of 22a, an independent collective for contemporary art. From 2001 to 2006, he was also member of IBA col.lectiu d’improvisació. Since 2001, he’s been working with many musicians, video-artists, choreographers. He plays regularly with Pascal Battus, Michel Doneda and Tim Olive. He is member of the following formations: Cremaster (with Ferran Fages), i treni inerti (with Ruth Barberán), Octante (with Ferran Fages, Ruth Barberán and Margarida Garcia), Atolón (with Ferran Fages and Ruth Barberán), Tellus (with Pilar Subirà) and Monolith (with Juan Matos Capote).
