Hugo Paquete - Sonic Media Artist Composing Cybernetic Ecologies
Hugo Paquete is a sonic media artist, composer, and researcher whose practice reimagines sound as a medium of philosophical inquiry, infrastructural critique, and post-human speculation. Operating at the crossroads of Critical Sound Studies, media archaeology, and post-digital performance, his work composes with systems, not just sounds, to expose the hidden architectures of technology, control, and life.
Major Sonic Works
- Negentropy: The Last Man in the Wasteland (2014) - Sonifies CO₂ data through fragmented deepfake vocals
- Unevenness (2015) - 24-channel composition carried aboard NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission
- Zoe: Actant (2017) - Exploration of biological and algorithmic vitality
- Obscure Radiation (2018–2019) - Combines electromagnetic frequencies and luminous data
- Orbital Eccentricity (2020–2021) - Developed at ZKM | Hertz-Lab, sonifies real-time satellite data
International exhibitions include Ars Electronica, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Museum of Arts and Design New York, and festivals worldwide. Awards include Prix Ars Electronica Distinction and Japan Media Arts Festival Jury Recommendation.
Artistic Philosophy
Hugo Paquete positions the artist as a sonic theorist and system builder, mediating complex relations between humans, machines, and environments. His practice offers a vital listening framework for a world saturated with invisible technologies, proposing sound as both a forensic tool and a speculative force for rethinking perception, agency, and the technological unconscious.
Keywords
sonic media artist, post-digital sound art, cybernetic ecologies, algorithmic sabotage, infrastructural critique, micro-sound composition, maximum sound architectures, glitch art, entropy composition, vibrational knowledge, post-techno aesthetic, sonic theorist, system builder, technological unconscious