This project analyzes Rodolfo Acosta’s musical work “True Negatives” (2009) as a counter-narrative exposing Colombia’s “false positives,” a euphemistic state-crafted fantasy that obscures the military’s murder of civilians presented as combat kills. Informed by an interview with Acosta and a contextual analysis of this “grotesquely inhumane” practice, the project examines how his compositional decisions (controlled improvisation, quasi-melodic gestures, etc.) function as deliberate artistic strategies. By comparing interview insights with score analysis, this project explores Acosta’s work as a counter-fantasy that challenges the state’s deceptive narrative, the horror it concealed, and questions collective memory.
Additionally, the project presents how this analysis enriches my own compositional
practice, helping me understand my artistic practice as a space for collective memory reflection that challenges dominant historical fantasies.