Cosmic protest music

Text: Esther Sambale

When Leslie García hears the sound of the sea, the Mexican sound artist, researcher and musician is reminded of outer space – and her home city of Tijuana. “The ocean was omnipresent. As a teen­ager, I began to perceive this sound as something artistic. The white noise of the sea fascinates me to this day, partly because it’s also reminiscent of the sound of the universe,” says García. Since the age of 18, she has been experimenting with sounds. “In Tijuana there were some great radio stations that played electronic music, plus a long tradition of jazz. As a child, I was just as much aware of the songs by the artist Sun Ra as I was of the music of the Beatles.”

At the invitation of Mexico’s University Museum of Contemporary Art MUAC, García was given access to the archive of the US jazz musician and Afrofuturist Sun Ra, who died in 1993. For an exhibition, she composed a 45-minute work entitled “Saturn Spectrums” in 2025. She used AI to help her analyse more than 600 cassettes and audiotapes, including live recordings of rehearsals and concerts spanning over four decades, as well as recordings of sound experiments, telephone calls and hypnosis sessions. “I focused on acoustic side notes and background noise, using for example spectral imaging to turn them into layers of sound,” explains García. Her work revealed a new side to Sun Ra. “He was always searching for new sounds – just like I am.”

In “Saturn Spectrums”, Leslie García creates a world of sound that reflects the endlessness of outer space and shifts our sense of space and time. “For me, sound is a journey into an inner world in which I find echoes of myself everywhere and feel connected to everything.” This is an idea rooted in Latinx futurism, which García explores in the sound art research collective Interspecifics she co-founded. In 2025, the collective received funding from the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and the Matschinsky-Denninghoff Foundation.

Under her stage name Microhm, she wants her music to reach those who do not typically frequent galleries and museums. “Art must be accessible to everyone, not only a privileged few. The dancefloor is an important place for decolonisation.” What impresses her about Sun Ra is the way he not only transformed music history but was also a political figure who gave a voice to the Afro-American resistance. “We are currently living through a time when resistance is necessary. Sound has the power to shape reality. We must take advantage of this power.” —