Final Event
The Acoustic commons Public Exhibition took place in and around ESAAIX over a period of 5 days. In light of the strong outdoor and ecological characteristics of the program it was decided to organise as an event(s) rather than as an exhibition (as originally intended). This included artistic walks, outdoor installations, talks and performances as well as more traditional forms of video installation and concerts. Collaborations with several partners and partner events, facilitated public outreach as well as providing complementary content and funding.
Beeplip performanceIda Hiršenfeldfer photo : Willy Legaud
Part of the event was aimed at the student population of ESAAIX - (Student Walk and Workshops) as an audience, at the same time involving them in a work process leading to their participation in the public event.
Student Walk (Oct 5-6 2022)
ESAAIX, has a tradition of organising a hike at the beginning of each academic year where all students and staff are invited to take part. For 2022 it was integrated into the Acoustic Commons event as a 2 day trek and bivouac. The walk provided a context within which to share knowledge issued from the program and organise encounters between artists from Acoustic Commons, students and other professionals. It also constituted a workshop situation where students, artists and professionals (acoustic commons and others) worked together to create elements for the part of the event open to the general public.
The walk involved 123 participants 123 students and 27 members of staff as well as … artists from Acoustic Commons. Production management was provided by Bureau des guides in collaboration with Locus Sonus.
Student Walk photo : Carlos Casteleira
PROGRAM
Two-day hike, including a bivouac (camp).
- Day 1: Wednesday October 5, walk of approximately 12 km, between Rognac station and the Technopôle de l'Arbois.
- Artistic interventions during day 1: Ida Hiršenfeldfer (podcast on the train), Hortense De Lary : Chargée d’étude démarches concertées et animation scientifique GIPREB (talk), Tim Shaw (soundwalk), Jürgen Nefzger - “A history of observation through photography” (talk).
- Soirée at the bivouac site: Jaka Berger (listening session) Brane Zorman - The Tree Spirits Touch (performance) Nuno da Luz (collective performance, Sacha Rey (discussion, screening).
- Day 2: Thursday, October 6, walk of about 8 km, between the Technopôle de l'Arbois and the Aix-TGV station.
- Artistic interventions during day 2: Tim Shaw (soundwalk) Hannah Tuulikki (performance) Irena Pivka, Brane Zorman (soundwalk), Bureau des Guides various talks.
Booklet published by Bureau des Guides GR 2013 download.pdf
Acoustic Commons workshops (Oct 07 2022)
Following the walk students, artists and professionals from acoustic commons and ESAAIX faculté members worked together to transform elements collected during the walk (sounds, images and found objects) incorporating them into different artistic forms presented to the general public over the weekend.
These included : audio montages for PITCH, an experimental fanzine that used visual elements from the walk, participation in a performance based on listening experiences conducted during the walk.
- Workshop PITCH - 5 participants,
- Workshop Ester Salmona (Thalweg) - 5 participants
- Workshop Fanzine - 9 Participants
Public Walk (Oct 08 2022 10am - 4pm)
An artistic walk, from Aix TGV station to the Realtor reservoir
Production management - Bureau des Guides GR2013
(Free reservation obligatory - 50 participants)
The Public walk, organised in collaboration with the bureau des Guides followed a circular route, leaving from Aix en Provence High speed Train station which the public where able to reach either by public or private transport. A Rendez vous given on a suspended terrace in the train station that corresponds to a nodal point on the GR 2013. The walk was introduced by Bureau des Guides and the Fanzine (created by students) was distributed. The route covered a variety of semi-urban terrains - a mixture of old and new human infrastructures (train track, canal, transmission lines, reservoir, data center, 2nd ww military camp …) and quasi wilderness - abandoned agricultural land used by hunters and minority groups. The walk was commentated and performances introduced by Bureau des guides and the artists themselves.
SandBoxIrena Pivka, Brane Zorman, photo : Willy Legaud
Program :
- Irena Pivka, Brane Zorman - SandBox (audiowalk)
- Tim Shaw - Ambulation (audiowalk)
- Elena Biserna - Walking from Scores (book presentation & soundwalk)
- Hannah Tuulikki - Vocal Improvisation with Birdsong (Performance)
- Beeplip performance (Ida Hiršenfeldfer) - Remembering a Tree (Performance)
- Sena Karahan - Sound Walk: Acoustic Palimpsest (audiowalk)
Tim Shaw - Ambulation photo : Willy Legaud
PITCH
Public Works and Michael Speers created a portable auditorium with a custom sound system to listen to live streams from the Acoustic Commons Network. PITCH provides a lightweight, half-sheltered, half-open listening structure on site. Participants are invited to contribute to the collective construction, the assembly and lifting of the wooden frame, and the printing of panels in cyanotype to create an acoustically permeable skin. In addition to streaming, PITCH will host remote sound performances.
Listening Hub Oct 08 - 09
A “Listening Hub” - a small comfortable auditorium where visitors could listen to audio works issued from the Acoustic Commons programme ran continuously during the event.
Playlist :
- Boštjan Perovšek – Sound is a journey of Memory,
- Manja Ristić – The Sonic Ontology of Negligence,
- Manja Ristić – Slip between them almost,
- Brane Zorman – Metal Pole woodpecker,
- Jaka Berger Brgs – In_Dependences,
- François Parra - Liberation
Radio Zai Oct 05 - 09
Radio Zai is a local web radio hosted by ESAAix students and teachers. During the Acoustic Commons event, Radio Zai dedicated its program to related content in the form of live streaming and podcasts – some of which was recorded and edited by students on site in a mobile studio.
Fanzine (Oct 05 - 09)
Fanzine and Mobile Printing Workshop - During its three year program, Acoustic Commons has produced an edition of 'fanzines'. For the final exhibition, we extended this concept to ESAAIX students and the general public. The Fanzine was produced on the fly in the school's publishing workshop. download.pdf
Performance Programme (Oct 08 2022 6pm - 8pm)
An evening of performances based on work produced during the program was presented in ESAAIX’s Nô Theater. It was attended by roughly 80 people.
Program :
ErikM and Stéphane Cousot - Zome 45 mins.
Composer EricM and Artist/Programmer Stéphane Cousot (also member of Locus Sonus) Manipulate respectively : sounds issuing from the Locus Sonus/ Acoustic commons open microphones (EricM) and lambda real -time images gleaned from the internet. The artists are particularly interested in the rôle of these indeterminate sources in their process of improvisation.
Esther Salmona - Thalweg Performance, Noh Theater about 20 mins Thalweg is a collaborative performance created by Esther Salmona and a group of students from ESAAix. From a work of cartographic and audio surveys, soundscapes are voiced and interpreted by the artists in order to restore a sound experience of crossing the Arbois plateau and the Realtor basin.
Natalie Sharp - SPUME Performance, Noh Theater about 40 mins Natalie Sharp developed SPUME during her 2022 artist residency at Ravenglass Estuary (FON). SPUME is a series of interferences or ways to access the tide line on any coastline in the world: “Drawing inspiration from my history with the sea, I study ways to react to the tide line in 62 diverse activities, ranging from dancing, trolling and making love to sinking, emerging , drinking and processing.” The performance involves a range of interactive media, including moving images, sound sculptures and physiognomic improvisations with voice and audience interference.
ZomeErikM and Stéphane Cousot, photo : Willy Legaud
Installations (Oct 08 - 09)
Julian Weaver – Nearly Present (sound installation).
‘Nearly Present’ is a configurable multichannel streaming installation where the speakers are enclosed in Wardian Cases; a 19th century metamaterial developed to facilitate the global conveyance of living plants in closed environments. The installation was presented in the public park of the Vendome pavilion, neighbouring ESAAIX. Exceptional authorisation was granted to allow the public to circulate between the grounds of the park and the art academy.
Tim Shaw - Radio Installation.
Tim Shaw presents Radio Installation which sources and combines various radio streams from around the world. Snippets of commercial and community stations, live weather reports, cosmic radios and open microphones from Locus Sonus are collected and composited using a Pure Data generative patch. It does this by using a combination of open web streams (including Locus Sonus) and local broadcasts listened to with software defined radio (SDR).
Sacha Rey - Le vernis des pare chocs compose des forêts d'eau, (video court-métrage).
The varnish of the bumpers composes forests of water, Sacha Rey, science fiction short film or lesbian apocalyptic joke, 20min, 2022.
Presented in the Petit Duc theatre.
Ludmila Postel - New Atlantis
is a platform dedicated to exploring the relationship between sound, 3D image and interactivity, aimed at sound artists, musicians, researchers and students. This installation, designed for Ludmila Postel's phd thesis viva, offers a virtual sound walk through locus sonus streams from around the world.
Nearly Present Julian Weaver, photo : Willy Legaud
Partners:
- Biennale d'Aix en provenceUne 5ème Saison (A 5th Season), biennial of art and culture is an event organised by the City of Aix-en-Provence.The acoustic commons event was included in, and co financed by the Biennalé programme.
- Bureau des Guides GR 2013: Bureau des Guides brings together artists-walkers, local inhabitants, architects and urban planners, it continues to develop the GR2013 adventure through a variety of projects and activities such as, trekking through peri-urban zones.Co-organised and produced the walking events with Locus Sonus and ESAAIX
- Radio Zai webradio: Multi-genre web radio that exists to amplify the rich culture of Aix locally and globally. Produced a special program dedicated to the event in the form of a live broadcast and podcasts.
- Pavillion Vendome A historical monument, situated in public parc - jardin à la française, neighbouring
- Le petit Duc Hosted the Acoustic commons colloquim]
Située au cœur d’Aix-en-Provence, la salle de concert de l’association Théâtre & Chansons a ouvert ses portes en 1997, . - GIPREB:Gipreb is responsible for scientific studies on the evolution of the Berre lagoon ecosystem. It coordinates and participates in actions to restore or develop uses. Enabled the setting up of Locus sonus’ open microphone 2 and gave a talk during the student walk.
- British Council: Provided funding for expenses related to British artists groups.
Last changed 2023/03/13 15:35