Curated by Vinciane Despret and Nicolas Donin Produced by Centre Pompidou (Joséphine Huppert) and Pro Helvetia
Truce: Strategies for Post-Apocalyptic Computation by Robin Meier and Ali Momeni (2009)
Adaptation by Robin Meier for live Dhurpad and Ondes Martenot with Nirmalya Dey and Christine Ott, November 2021, Centre Pompidou, Paris.
In their seminal paper “Flying in Tune: Sexual recognition in mosquitoes”, Gabriella Gibson (University of Greenwich) and and Ian Russell (University of Brighton) discovered an inspiring phenomenon: male mosquitoes synchronise their buzzing frequency to match that of a female mosquito. The authors suggest that this phenomenon facilitates the mosquitoes’ ability to copulate mid-flight.
Nirmalya Dey, pandit of the Indian vocal tradition of Dhrupad and Christine Ott, renown virtuoso of the Ondes Martenot instrument, harness this curious musical behaviour. During a forty-minute interspecies improvisation, they encounter and harmonise with three live mosquitoes. Listening to each other, each musician enables and gives voice to the others as they tune in and out of unison.
Special Thanks go to philosopher Vinciane Despret who invited this performance during her residency at the Centre Pompidou, Nicolas Donin (IRCAM) for moderating the conversations, Bernard Fort for his inspiring talk on bird songs, Joséphine Huppert (Centre Pompidou) and the Service de la Parole for the production, Mylène Weill and Sandra Unal (Université de Montpellier) for breeding the mosquitoes, Gabriella Gibson for her valuable advice and last but not least Lionel Feugère (University of Greenwich) for preparing the mosquitoes, his presence and scientific advice.
Thanks also to Centre Pompidou, IRCAM and Pro Helvetia for their financial support and Laurent Dumas / Emerige Collection for lending the work.
A neuroscientist, a dancer, a pigeon fancier and a string trio connect neuronal patterns in the brain with patterns in bird flocks, dance, music and language : “neuromancer meets ornithomancer”.
A neuroscientist, a dancer, a pigeon fancier and a string trio connect neuronal patterns in the brain with patterns in bird flocks, dance, music and language : “neuromancer meets ornithomancer”.
16mm photographic film was directly exposed to the light of two captive fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae). Inside a dark space, without camera or optics, the insects were simply placed on an analogue film strip.
16mm photographic film was directly exposed to the light of two captive fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae). Inside a dark space, without camera or optics, the insects were simply placed on an analogue film strip.
In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note ‘A’ was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face. More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feugère and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. A musical relationship unfolds as night falls on the marshes of Northward Hill in northern Kent.
In 1861, the entomologist Osten-Sacken refers to a Cuban naturalist who once told him that whenever the note ‘A’ was played by a band, the swarm of mosquitoes hovering over his head suddenly flew downward toward his face. More recently, during their research on mosquitoes and chironomids, scientists Lionel Feugère and Gabriella Gibson also noticed how these insects react to the sound of their voices. A musical relationship unfolds as night falls on the marshes of Northward Hill in northern Kent.
Current mathematical models don’t capture the complexities of the fireflies’ synchronizing behaviour, instigating the creation of new models called Chimera States. A collaboration with the mathematics department of Northwestern University resulted in a multichannel video installation “Chimera States”, displayed at EPFL Pavilions in 2023.
Current mathematical models don’t capture the complexities of the fireflies’ synchronizing behaviour, instigating the creation of new models called Chimera States. A collaboration with the mathematics department of Northwestern University resulted in a multichannel video installation “Chimera States”, displayed at EPFL Pavilions in 2023.
During la Nuit Blanche in Paris, Dream Machine transformed the Paris Art Lab pavilion into a hypnotic sound installation. This concert-installation channeled the ghosts of Brion Gysin, Marian Zazeela and La Monte Young propagating clouds of psychedelic beat culture into the parisian air. Several musicians connect with this sensorial experience through a series of concerts – a trip to be enjoyed with your eyes closed.
During la Nuit Blanche in Paris, Dream Machine transformed the Paris Art Lab pavilion into a hypnotic sound installation. This concert-installation channeled the ghosts of Brion Gysin, Marian Zazeela and La Monte Young propagating clouds of psychedelic beat culture into the parisian air. Several musicians connect with this sensorial experience through a series of concerts – a trip to be enjoyed with your eyes closed.
Satie Variations is a generative composition commissioned by Pierre Huyghe for a new version of his Untitled (Light Show). The composition is a custom algorithm based on a recurrent neural network (Performance RNN, Max, Bach library, etc.) and is trained to play infinite variations of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies 1 & 3.
Satie Variations is a generative composition commissioned by Pierre Huyghe for a new version of his Untitled (Light Show). The composition is a custom algorithm based on a recurrent neural network (Performance RNN, Max, Bach library, etc.) and is trained to play infinite variations of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies 1 & 3.
In 2014, Dutch authorities began to kill a small population of house crows (corvus splendens) near the Port of Rotterdam. The crows likely arrived from Sri Lanka around 1994 as stowaways on a commercial container boat. Apparently, international trade in a country is now understood to be the most reliable predictor of the number of introduced species found there. The house crows were all killed, except for one that found shelter in a Dutch apartment.
In 2014, Dutch authorities began to kill a small population of house crows (corvus splendens) near the Port of Rotterdam. The crows likely arrived from Sri Lanka around 1994 as stowaways on a commercial container boat. Apparently, international trade in a country is now understood to be the most reliable predictor of the number of introduced species found there. The house crows were all killed, except for one that found shelter in a Dutch apartment.
A contribution by Bastien Gallet and myself to a special issue of Architectural Design (Volume 87, Issue 4 – July 2017) edited by Skylar Tibbits, “AD Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction“. PDF link below:
A contribution by Bastien Gallet and myself to a special issue of Architectural Design (Volume 87, Issue 4 – July 2017) edited by Skylar Tibbits, “AD Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction“. PDF link below:
Synchronicity (Thailand) is shown at Arsenal Contemporary NY – 214 Bowery – from 6 March to 22 April 2018. Press Release Article in Whitewall 39 must-see shows in artnet Thank you Pierre and Anne-Marie Trahan, Isabelle Kowal, Loreta Lamargese, Elise Gallant and last
Synchronicity (Thailand) is shown at Arsenal Contemporary NY – 214 Bowery – from 6 March to 22 April 2018. Press Release Article in Whitewall 39 must-see shows in artnet Thank you Pierre and Anne-Marie Trahan, Isabelle Kowal, Loreta Lamargese, Elise Gallant and last