Sonidos

Mirjam Wirz’s ‘Sonidos’ is part of an extensive research project and ongoing publication series revolving around the culture of cumbia music and its specific forms of representation. While previous books have dealt with the genre’s complex social structure and imagery, this one turns the spotlight on the architecture of Mexican sound systems, documenting their versatile configurations through photography. The social potentiality inherent in the equipment, which Wirz usually depicts in empty rooms and on vacant streets or sidewalks – fully operational but not actively in use – underlies these images of imposing speaker stacks, gaping bass bins, and snaking cables.