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He began to create with electroacoustic media at the ALEA Laboratory in Madrid and later at the University of Pau (France) between 1977 and 1978. Between 1977 and 1979 he attended the courses in Techniques and Analysis of Contemporary Music given by Luis de Pablo at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid.
Between 1979 and 1982 he was a member of the Seminario de Arte e Informática (SAGAF-M) of the Centro de Cálculo de la Universidad de Madrid, and between 1979 and 1984 of the Colectivo ELENFANTE. As a composer and instrumentalist of live electronics, he collaborated with various groups and soloists and, from 1984 to 2000, with the singer Esperanza Abad.
In 1989 he began his collaboration with the artist Concha Jerez, jointly creating sound and visual spaces, performances, radio works, intermedia concerts, videos and photomontages.
Fundamental axes of his artistic and compositional work are the interaction of conventional instruments with recorded sounds and/or live electronics, or his personal use of stage and radio language in areas such as performance, installation or video. All of this implies a transversality of approaches and practices that in many cases are framed within the so-called sound art.
From 1985 to 2008, he directed the programme “Ars Sonora” on the current Radio Clásica (RNE), which focuses on sound art and, in particular, radiophonic art. He has produced more than 80 works of these genres, having received, among others, the “Prix Italia de Radio” in 1991, with L’Escalier des Aveugles, by Luc Ferrari, the 2nd Prize in the “Prix Radio Brno 1988” with his piece Palmeros and the Förderpreis of the Karl-Sczuka-Preis 2005 with Call me yesterday, by Antje Vowinckel. He has also been producer of the CDs Broaden/in/Gates (1992) and Ríos Invisibles (1994), and director of events and meetings such as Ciudades Invisibles (Madrid, 1992) and Radio Horizontal (Madrid, 1995). He has been a member of the Forum “Ars Acústica” of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), of which he was coordinator between 1999 and 2005. He has been president of the AMEE (Electroacoustic Music Association of Spain).
His creative and production work has been complemented by numerous articles, conferences, courses and workshops. Among them, we can highlight the Workshops on Radiophonic Art that he directed in Barcelona (La Caixa, CIEJ,1990), Cuenca (Fac. de BB.AA.,1995) and Mexico D.F. (III and VI Latin American Biennial of Radio, 2000, 2006; Radio UNAM, 2010); those on “Sound and Visual Spaces” in Pontevedra (1991) and Valencia (Fac. de BB.AA.,1993), and on “Art in Electronic Space” in Gijón (Fundac. Munic. de Cultura,1995); those on “Sound Art” at Arts Santa Mónica (Barcelona, 2010 and 2012), Universidad de Caldas (Manizales, Colombia, 2012), Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia, 2012), as well as courses and seminars at the Fac. de Ciencias de la Información de Madrid, Universidad del País Vasco, Fac. de BB.AA. de Granada, Fundac.
Municipal de Cultura de Valladolid, Instituto de Estética y Teoría de las Artes (Madrid), Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Conservatorio de Cuenca, AECID Caracas, Universidad de Puebla (Mexico) and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. He has contributed articles and essays to specialist magazines such as Scherzo, Ritmo, Creación, RevistAtlántica de Poesía, El Urogallo, Doce Notas, Coclea, Transversal, Musica/Realtà, KunstMusik and Fisuras, among others, and to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He is the author of a narrative work (Animales Domésticos, Ed.Libertarias, Madrid, 1987), of the biographical volume Luigi Nono (Ed. CBA, Madrid, 1988), of a doctoral thesis on “Arte Radiofónico” (Univ. Complutense de Madrid, 1997) and the book “Conferencias sobre arte sonoro” (Árdora, Madrid, 2017), co-author (with Manuel Olveira) of the book “El giro notacional” (CENDEAC, Murcia, 2019), as well as editor of the book “Ars Sonora, 25 años” (Ed. Iberautor, Madrid, 2012) and co-editor of the catalogue “Escuchar con los ojos” (Fundación Juan March, Madrid, 2016).
In 1997 he was responsible for the selection of the Sound Art collection of the Media Library of the Fundació Caixa de Pensions (Barcelona). Responsible for the selection of Sound Art in the ARCO ELECTRONIC Commission of the ARCO fair in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Curator of the international exhibitions on sound installations and sculptures “El espacio del sonido/El tiempo de la mirada” (Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastián, 1999), “Resonancias” (Museo Municipal, Málaga, 2000) and “Dimensión Sonora” (KM, San Sebastián, 2007), as well as the monographic exhibition “Vostell y la Música” (Museo Vostell Malpartida, 2002-2003), the I Muestra de Arte Sonoro Español, MASE (Córdoba-Lucena, 2006), the soundscapes project Islas Resonantes (2009) and the exhibition ARS ACUSTICA DOCUMENTAL (Barcelona, 2012). In 2016 he was invited by the Fundación Juan March to curate the series of exhibitions “Arte sonoro en España, 1961-2016”, held in Palma de Mallorca, Cuenca (Museo Español de Arte Abstracto) and Madrid. In 2017 he curated the exhibition “space. sound. silences” for the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid. In 2018 he curated a new version of the Fundación March exhibitions for the Museo Tamayo in Mexico, under the title “Listening with the eyes”. In 2019 he is curator of the exhibition “El giro notacional” (MUSAC, León) and in 2020 of the virtual sound art exhibition “SEM (Sonidos de Equilibrios Metaestables)” for Freijo Virtual.
He has organised concert cycles for institutions such as the Sala Amárica in Vitoria (2000), the MNCARS in Madrid (2002) and the Museo Vostell Malpartida (1999-2006). He co-organised the EASE (Encounter on Sound Art in Spain) in Madrid (2010). He was the author, together with Concha Jerez, of the series of radio programmes MONUMENTOS DEL ARTE SONORO, produced for the Fonoteca Nacional de México (2011).
He has been musical director and arranger in the world premiere of the Opera-Fluxus “El Jardín de las Delicias”, by Wolf Vostell (Museo Vostell Malpartida, Malpartida de Cáceres, 2012) In January 2011 he created “Radioartnet”, a website that is a permanent archive of international radio art.
In October 2012 he coordinates RESONANTES, I Encuentro Iberoamericano de Arte Sonoro en Radio, at the Fonoteca Nacional de México, within the framework of the 9th International Radio Biennial. In 2013 he carries out the IberWave project, a series of five broadcasts for Kunstradio (ORF) on current Ibero-American radio art.
He has permanent works —alone or as co-author with Concha Jerez— in:
- Museo Vostell Malpartida. Malpartida de Cáceres.
- National Museum of Engraving. Marbella.
- ZKM. Karlsruhe
- Museum Weserburg. Bremen
- Comunidad de Madrid
- Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Ayuntamiento de Madrid