«Rhapsodiscs» - 2013 -
Installation sonore
RHAPSODISCS is in the form of a mechanical orchestra of LP record players. Five 33T turntables are placed on pedestals. The 33T photo-luminescent blue discs float like stars in a continuous rotation. The five discs are engraved on offset ranges in order to generate variable, random and discontinuous sound compositions.
The sound compositions accompany the panoramic video film. The sound composition "perpetual" interpreted by the turntables is random, the 5 sound tracks of the discs superimpose, echo, silent, overlap ... in an unprepared melody ... The assembly of loudspeakers of different sizes unfolds like a sculpture and evokes a fragment of a "district" of big city (Shanghai, Beijing, Guyang ...), a topographic section of a mountainous territory or even the image Of a sound. The loudspeakers grouped, sound diffusers, turn into pedestal, model of building, piece of sound spectrum ...
Echoing the Chinese journey, the sound / video installation RHAPSODISCS presents itself in the heart of a room bathed in darkness, enclosures with angular silhouettes recall the profiles of the large buildings that inhabit the metropolises. Five of them serve as bases for plates that diffuse compositions engraved on fluorescent blue vinyl records. The device is accompanied by the projection of a two-color film that projects a city image at night in panoramic (the sequences of which have been realized in Beijing, Shanghai, Guyang and Guizhou province). Treated in blue and black - omnipresent colors in Miao garments - the united images slide from the visible to the invisible, to the confines of glare.
Conceived from recordings made in China, the sound tracks resonate in parallel and are superimposed to form an orchestra. This luminous mechanism recalls the continuous and imperceptible movement of the stars. The isolation and the penumbra favor the concentration and the awakening of the sensations. In this privileged space, sound compositions and images are clearly dissociated, so as to reveal the perceptive stakes linked to their relationship.
The simultaneous diffusion of the film and several sound tracks confronts the visitor with the need to make choices: he is invited to select his points of view and points of listening to develop his own narrative line. Reception asserts itself fully as an act of composition, as well as transmission. The installation expresses the concrete dimension of the sound, as well as the hardware component of any recording. The microphone offers a palpable character to the sound information, while the sculptural presence of the speakers dialogues with the body of the visitor. At the same time, the visual data contained in the videos are indicated by an abstract and musical component.
Alexia Creusen octobre 2009