By taking over spaces not dedicated to art, we* hope that the modes of encounter at work encourage other perceptions of the landscape, ones that lead us to question more broadly the issues facing our society: the memory of history, the place of philosophy, technologies and the power to act.
*we, here, refers to the fact that these projects have always been collective. They are also an opportunity to dream together.
EXQUISITE CORPSE
With Edouard Sufrin, Ross Alexander Payne.
electronics, steel
speaker, battery.
Sound Art Lab, Struer, Denmark
This piece is an exquisite corpse inspired by two remnants of the Second World War: the twisted pole of the former Bang & Olufsen factory, bombed because it was actively involved in the Resistance, and the ruins of the Nazi bunkers, now half-buried by sand and sea.
We salvaged, restored and modified a compression driver and housings from the company's old stock, then developed autonomous audio players in order to broadcast, over the bunkers, a sound piece made by Ross. For this piece, he wrote and read a text that questions the responsibility of firms and industrialists in the face of oppressive political systems, and invites us to draw inspiration from these acts of resistance in our contemporary creations.
All of these sound-diffusion devices have remained at the Sound Art Lab, which today occupies this former bombed factory, so that they can be used by other artists. For us, the point here is to develop tools that facilitate acts of creation, and therefore of resistance.
BRUIT DE FOND (BACKGROUND NOISE)
With Edouard Sufrin, Jérôme Fino.
Wood, electronics, steel
speaker, fabric, battery.
DICRéAM research grant, 2022, supported by the venue Mains d'Œuvres.
L'Embobineuse, Marseille, 2023
Research, prototyping and assembly: Edouard Sufrin, Jérôme Fino and Sonia Saroya
Wood design and joinery: Frédéric Pavageau
Measurements and optimization: Camille Jamain and Victor Maquet
Textile design: Sonia Saroya
Textile fabrication: Sonia Saroya & Cedric Cailliau
Bruit de fond is a series of 5 audiophile speakers, battery-powered and portable in a backpack. This artwork-tool is conceived as a device for carrying out a multitude of experiments in music in motion and in-situ sound installations. It facilitates dialogue between a creation and a place, as well as collaboration between artists from different fields (music, visual arts, theatre and dance). Everything, from the joinery to the bag and all of the electronics and tuning work, was handcrafted.
Here, images of:
the sound walk on the Massif de l'Étoile in Marseille.
Composition by Diane Barbé and Mihaela Trifa. With L'Embobineuse.
Experiments in the woods.
Experiments in the limestone quarries.
UNE SOCIÉTÉ IDÉALE (AN IDEAL SOCIETY)
With Edouard Sufrin
In-situ installation, electronic circuits, speakers.
Project created for Sonic Promenade by Sonic Protest.
Bois de Vincennes
In the Bois de Vincennes, voices and sounds escape from the trees. Visitors, first guided by the strange sound of synthetic birds and laughter, then hear the voice of Gilles Deleuze speaking about the now-vanished University, prostitutes recounting their daily lives, and forest rangers describing the reproduction of newts. Excerpts from reports on biodiversity and the preservation of trees and species, testimonies from those who work there and those who live there, but also from fishermen, joggers and voyeurs. These testimonies come from a library of samples compiled by exploring online resources.
We discover that for some, the wood is a pre-Tinder meeting place, for others a place to relax, while still others find a place there to share their culture. A portrait thus emerges of the wood as a macro-world: a little strange, unsettling, sometimes disturbing, like our society. A tongue-in-cheek material that invites us to philosophize about our urban environments.
LES LUCIOLES (THE FIREFLIES)
with Edouard Sufrin
Autonomous electronic modules,
sound and light.
Nuit Noire, 2015.
Nuit Noire, 2016.
Concerts dispersés,
Centre d'Art Contemporain
de Cajarc, 2017
La Gaîté Lyrique, 2018.
These fireflies are a metaphor
for people who preserve their popular
culture by resisting
political pressure. Even if this resistance seems
to be only a faint glimmer in the
night, like that of a tiny firefly, it instils the idea that we will constantly
succeed in escaping the watchtowers of our era.
The installation Les lucioles is inspired by the essay
Survivance des lucioles by
Georges Didi-Huberman.
Analysing a letter written by
Pasolini to his friend Franco Farolfi
in 1941, he draws an analogy between
ecological disturbances, the disappearance of fireflies and the
political troubles that were unsettling Italy at the time.
This project has continued to evolve depending on the contexts in which it has been presented. Sound versions, which interact with their fellow modules, have been added to the light modules.
This gave rise to a series of workshops aimed at introducing newcomers
to the practice of electronics. These workshops were an interesting context
in which to discuss the substance of the project and to share Pasolini's reflection and
Didi-Huberman's interpretations.
