SOUND ART INSTALLATIONS IN PUBLIC SPACES
17 TO 23 MAY
PLACE SAINTE-VICTOIRE
FREE ADMISSION - 10 AM TO 8 PM
Guided tour for school groups : write to us
With the help
A major collaboration
AND CIRCLES OF SECRET MUSIC1
In trying to define the focus of this year’s programming, as every year for the past 11 years, I unexpectedly bifurcated toward the concept of synesthesia. In general, this term defines a fascinating neurological phenomenon which consists, for an individual, to associate two or more senses in a lasting way. For example, someone would systematically associate a letter, a note, a sound with a colour, and vice versa. It is said that György Ligeti had synesthesia (associating a grapheme with a colour); same for Duke Ellington (associating a tone with a colour). For Radiohead’s Tom Yorke, the association is the opposite: a colour associated with a note or sound.
In poetry, synesthesia is a process that highlights an image by appealing to other sensory states.
(…) Perfumes, sounds, and colours correspond.
(…) Sweet as oboes, green as meadows.
And others are corrupt, and rich, triumphant, […]2
It is also a form that makes it possible to evoke verbatim the emotions, feelings, images and states that a work can inspire to an audience; a more pleasant, less surgical way of talking about art and the emotions associated with it.
This edition offers once again works where hybridization reigns, where the territory is left undefined, where the experience is new, where language is not formatted. The evocation of synesthesia is a very suitable avenue for expressing one’s thoughts, one’s reflections on the poetic object which presents itself in front of you.
I invite you to use synesthesia, in addition to your legendary curiosity, to savour, taste, and smell the nine works (eight of which are world premieres) presented this year. An exceptional course for exceptional times!
Érick d’Orion, sound art installations curator
2 BAUDELAIRE, Charles (1857), extrait de Correspondances. Les fleurs du mal. English translation by William Aggeler.
ESTELLE SCHORPP
« écosystème(s) »
FRANCE
Loudspeakers set on a listening stand are broadcasting sound samples whose spectrum and behaviour are inspired by the songs of Orthoptera insects. Thanks to two listening microphones and a triggering/threshold system, each sample fades in and out according to the “sound space” it can inhabit. The audience is thus taken into account, people’s audio presence altering the behaviour of the environment.
On the Web
estelleschorpp.com
SONIA PAÇO-ROCCHIA
« Lames @ FIMAV »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
For her second appearance at FIMAV, the artist will present an ensemble of automated singing saws performing a site-specific, interactive and non-linear composition. PAÇO-ROCCHIA’s works integrate theatrical and visual components, but the core of her approach resides in audio research through mining and expanding the sound palettes of unusual, found and invented instruments.
On the Web
musinou.net
AUXAURALITÉS
« Le cristal de l’oreille »
QUEBEC, FRANCE
WORLD PREMIERE
A collaboration
AUXAURALITÉS is a collective of artists and acoustic researchers with an interest in metamaterials, i.e. artificial composite materials with properties that cannot be found in natural materials. Metamaterials are developed using 3D printing technology. Here, they are reproducing processes of digital and analogue synthesis. The structure of the work features “listening nodes” by way of phenomena of audio filtering, resonance, and feedback.
(Ce projet est rendu possible grâce au Fonds de recherche du Québec et à la collaboration du GAUS de la Faculté de génie de l’Université de Sherbrooke, de la Faculté des arts de l’UQAM et de Sporobole.)
Sur le Web
pagauthier.github.io/auxauralite
TOM JACQUES
« 7 mouvements d’air »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
A collaboration
This work is presented both as a “living” sound installation and as a 7-day-long composition, the evolution of which people will be able to follow day by day. The work’s mechanics are based on the relation between filling up and blowing out the air used to trigger a sound-making device developed from the acoustic properties of animal calls and sound objects, organ-like.
On the Web
tomjacques.ca
ISABELLE CLERMONT
« Auris / À fleur d'oreille »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
This work is aiming for pure bliss and unexpected sharing for kids both small and tall. It is a relational work in its essence, playfully realized, an opportunity to explore and listen to the beauty of the voice and of sound textures set in a metaphorical garden full of balance, vitality and originality.
On the Web
isabelleclermont.com
NADY LARCHET
« Flûtocratie »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
A structure fitted with a complex system that plays a concert flute. This overly complex set-up makes it nearly impossible to coordinate everything required to get sounds out of the instrument. What is getting amplified here is not so much the flute itself but every mechanical element in the system which becomes the main sound work. « Flûtocratie » is an analogy on bureaucracy and it asks whether or not it is relevant to maintain overly complex, inefficient structures.
Sur le Web
nadylarchet.com
MAXIME CORBEIL-PERRON
« La fin du média »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
An exploration of the possibilities of electromagnetic fields and obsolete media. This work results from an approach based on media archaeology, a field focused on a creative recuperation of media and technologies that are past their prime. This kinetic device consists in hacking, tinkering with, and modifying CDs and their players.
On the Web
maximecorbeilperron.com
GGROUNDD
« Cristal métal »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
« Cristal métal » is a piece of music synchronized to synthesized video materials, a dialogue of extremes where frenetic excess is juxtaposed to melody and measure, putting in relation dynamism and contemplation, overinformation and economy of means, jaggedness and fluidity, figuration and abstraction. The duo is attempting to bypass the limits of extremes through finesse and subtlety.
On the Web
facebook.com/ggroundd
PASCAL AUDET
« Quatuor »
QUEBEC
WORLD PREMIERE
A collaboration
This is an interactive piece featuring the musique actuelle ensemble Pando. The installation includes a set of pedals on the floor that serve as a video mixing console allowing visitors to control the video clips depicting each of the four musicians. Visitors can get as creative as they wish, the possible musical combinations being nearly limitless.
(Ce projet est rendu possible grâce au Conseil de la culture de Saint-Hyacinthe.)
On the Web
pascalaudet.com/quatuor
