sonic surrounds

From 16th to 25th April at Point Éphémère was the Octopus Festival #5 Exhibition: Inventeurs d’Instruments.

The three works in the exhibition had a wonderful physicality and two employed found objects to add a deep texture/patina to the sonic content.

The works were:

“Bien des choses”, an array of sonic postcards by Cléa Coudsi & Eric Herbin. Voices spoke in French (presumably linked to the outward facing text of the postcard) from individual speakers behind beautifully hinged postcards, so the photos were revealed with the personal voices.

“stream Fiction”, by Nicolas Bralet is an old wooden roll-top desk that accessed global streaming live field recordings via the Locus Sonus SoundMap project. Toggle switches flicked streams on and off and I think a push-button allowed you to send the local sound down another tube into an online-accessible stream. 

“des oreilles pour voir”, a carpeted walkway that triggered an array of atmospheric sounds delivered to the listener via wireless headphones, by Stéphane Kozik.  

Coming up in Paris will be two intriguing performances of a sound and visual augmented reality organ. The events, part of the City of Paris Science on the Seine festival will take place at the Saint Elisabeth Church in the 3rd Arrondissement.

Colleagues of mine at the LIMSI Situated Perception group and the IRCAM Real-time group are augmenting a live organ recital with live reactive visuals and spatialised sound processed from multiple microphones near the organ pipes. The effect will be that notes from the organ will seem to develop (subtle) physically impossible lives of their own and take off around the church, while the pipes themselves will take on altered appearance in conjunction with the music.

Concerts are on 15th and 17th May at 9pm.

An adjoining exhibit of informative posters (and possibly recordings) will last from 15th May until 13th June.

The site is:
Eglise Sainte Elisabeth(map)
195 rue du Temple
75003 Paris
Métro Temple ou République

Much more information (in French, but with many images) is available at the LIMSI Wiki under Orgue Augmenté.

En Français:

Ce projet explore les relations entre science et art, sur le thème de l’acoustique dans l’espace. Lors d’un concert, grâce à un dispositif de spatialisation du son, le son interne de l’orgue est capturé, modifié et restitué dans l’espace en temps réel, la façade de l’instrument est animée par une projection vidéo dynamique du son.