Francisco Lopez, the Madrid sonic artist who always performs in complete darkness.

Introduce your show, Francisco.

"It's not a normal music show, but a large-scale intense sonic immersive experience. That's the closest description of what I do; it's not a concert or a performance.

"I always do my performances in complete darkness which obviously enhances the listening experience. To me sound is not just about the sound itself. With my immersive experience, there is the refusal to say or show what I'm using and that intensifies the sound."

Are you a showman nevertheless?

"I refuse to be a virtuoso in a massive display of technology. By refusing to do that, I'm trying not to dissipate the attention of the listener."

The brochure warns that your performance contains very loud elements and says that "ear defenders" can be made available. What's more, your audience will be blindfolded.

"They won't face me, but will sit within a circle of speakers with their backs to me. They will be plunged into a pitch-black sonic abyss, and what I create is a gateway, an access, to an intense experience. The reaction and comments from many audiences is that it becomes a very strange and moving experience."

What are you looking to achieve?

"I'm most interested in exploring the way people have very different reactions and experiences. That's to do with the fact that the sounds are intentionally without any meaning. If you had lyrics, it would change the focus or perception of the sound experience. When you don't specify your meaning or intentions, you are automatically giving the freedom to make individual interpretations. It's my belief that music is not complete until someone listens to it. The listener completes it."

What, if anything, influences your work?

"It's really hard to say what the strongest influence is. It's very varied, though I do listen to a lot of bossa-nova music. My main influence for creating things is nature. I'm also a biologist and I've been involved in recording field sounds for 20 years now, and I've learned more from nature than anything else. The dynamics of nature, the temporality of nature, is so different to music.

"Working in Costa Rica, in the rain forest, mostly at night, in the dark, is an incredible environment for the density and intensity of sound. You cannot imagine that intensity, and that world of sound has had such a strong impact on my work."

Francisco Lopez, SightSonic, National Centre For Early Music, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm; tickets £12, £8, on 01904 658338.

Artist's Talk, SightSonic Hub, The Guildhall, tomorrow, 11am, entry free.

Updated: 16:23 Thursday, October 14, 2004