Backstage/Onstage at REF24. FOOSBALL

I enter the room that houses FOOSBALL – a participatory sound action for a plurality of soccer-ball players and live electronics, presented as part of the Digitalive.Romaeuropa Festival. I find it very theatrical. The heavy black curtains open to a strongly evocative environment. However, it is not visual compositions that characterize the research of the authors, who are part of the Research Center – founded by Luciano Berio in 1987 – Tempo Reale, as much as the multifaceted field of electronic music and sound arts.

The room is wide, tall, and dark. The bright light of a white spotlight points at a foosball table positioned in the center. It reminds me of the atmosphere of baroque compositions.

Out of the darkness emerge in the foreground figures of competitive players vehemently applying themselves to their game and those of the small crowd surrounding them and following them with interest.
After this initial visual impact, I take a closer look at the rest of the room: two more table footballs are positioned far apart, arranged along a line that cuts the space in half. Benches near the walls invite people to sit down; large white signs are projected on one of them, indicating the time and schedule of the next professional game.

On the four corners large speakers are arranged, and on each foosball table microphones hang from above: the cables on the ground are scattered like roots, are clearly visible and match the space of the former Slaughterhouse where iron hooks, pulleys, old electrical structures are still on display. To the right of the entrance is the station from where members of Real Time carefully follow the event and intervene in the sound that constructs a different reality.

In a moment, I am surrounded by the deafening beats of the foosball table, the sounds of the impact of the plastic ball and the rods; if during the game the table moves, the sound of the legs moving is amplified and altered, acquiring the characters of a trumpet or a chorus.
The multiplied voices and cheers of the fans seem to come from a distance perceived as real.

All participants are involved and entertained; with each ball that lands in the goal, the players press a big button that says “WIN,” which sets off celebrations in the stands of this nonexistent arena. It felt like being inside a foosball table.

I think it was the presence of this cheering that evoked in everyone, including some staff and Real Time members, the desire to participate and interact with each other as well. In the end, then, who doesn’t have memories associated with the pounding shots of FOOSBALL?

When the game was over, the white spotlight went out, giving way to softer, warmer lights on all three tables. There is a sense of community and playfulness as everyone, even with the help of the moderator who was professionally announcing the new games, finds a new place to play. The game can begin again.