Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio extract from Derek Jarman’s Blue, his twelfth and final film, a personal testimony of his experience with AIDS and the process of becoming blind. Image is a screenshot from the film’s unchanging blue background.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Extract from Soundwalk’s upcoming piece The Passenger, presenting a series of hand-cut vinyl records of sounds collected in Fes, Marrakech, and Tangier for an installation at the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for the New City this Saturday May 7th. In addition, The Passenger will make its premier performance at FIAF, Florence Gould Hall in NYC this Monday, May 9th at 8:30 PM. Admission is free, please RSVP by clicking here to attend.
Listen to an exclusive Live Session by Soundwalk collaborator Marc Huri, who will be on stage for the realization of LE SON DU NOUS, with Philippe Starck at MAC Créteil’s International Exit Festival, March 19th and 20th. Huri is a Swiss artist who creates alternative electronic music and ambient sound, releasing music under the name, Hursaki.
This session was produced by Huri following an interview on France Culture’s “Le Rendez-vous,” of Philippe Starck and Alex Kummerman, in which the two discussed the unique concepts of the project.
8 Click here to listen to the interview.
Huri’s live session is a mix of natural and manufactured sound. Birdsong, electrical noises, and human voices are all present on the track, conceived for a performance directed toward the discovery of the sound of Us.
Huri says that the inspirations for his live session were the sounds that we find disagreeable. He takes pleasure in turning these sounds into something beautiful. “On this track there are subway noises, the grinding of trains on rails, [he manipulates and integrates] them in a way to create music.”
Huri describes his creative process, saying that when he hears sound, images form inside his head and a little film takes shape. The sounds tell their own story. On this particular track, Huri sees himself as part of a story: of a voyage, on an eastern European train. At first, one feels cradled by the noise, and then, startled and more awake. Huri calls it “exciting, unexpected, and also frightening.”
Philippe Starck talks about each person having a unique, individual sound: he says that his is an Indian flute with three holes, that produces a melody which can transport one into a trance-like state. Soundwalk‘s Stephan Crasneanscki says that he prefers the sound of silence. When asked about his own sound, Huri says that finding such a sound is a lifelong trial. For LE SON DU NOUS, he is focused on projecting the sound of who he is today: Huri says that this sound comes to him instinctively. Currently, Huri pursues an interest in exploring the relationship between sound and image: he takes his camera, sound equipment and guitar, and explores the different sounds they create together. For “Le Rendez-Vous,” Huri produced a very particular sound, punctuating the piece using the two repeated passages. He says that, “it is after me that the sound of who I am today emerges. It is something of a hybrid; of the media who searches for it, finds it, and transforms it.”
8 Click here to listen to Marc Huri’s live session
Photo Credit: Marc Huri
Our contest to win tickets to LE SON DU NOUS, which was conducted on our Facebook and Twitter, has come to an end. Thanks to all who participated! The winners have received or will receive emails, and others can book tickets to the show online at www.maccreteil.com or by phone 01 45 13 19 19.
To wrap up the contest, we’ve collected all the responses to our question “What is your sound?”, inspired by Stephan Crasneanscki’s and Philippe Starck’s statements about sounds they felt represented who they are. We’re posting a selection of some of the responses here! Thanks to everyone who replied – your thoughts were inspiring and creative.
“When it’s all [quiet], silence starts to disturb you deeply and you need to make a noise. Generally you open your mouth and this [meaningless] noise [comes] through from your inside….” - Çisil
“C’est celui d’une douce brise de vent frais qui vers dix heures trente se glisse dans mon coup lorsque je descends les Buttes Chaumont par le pont, c’est celui des beignets de churros qui lentement fondent et se brisent sous mes dents au goûter, c’est celui de mes pas dans le jardin du Luxembourg qui discrètement laissent rouler quelques grains de sable, c’est celui de mon journal sur lequel je griffonne avec mon stylo noir des bribes de discussion frénétique entre deux passantes, c’est celui du taxi qui tourne place de l’Opéra et parfois par plaisir écrase quelques bouteilles de plastique vides laissées là , c’est le son du clavier qui termine d’écrire en douceur ce message et de mes doigts effleurant la tasse de chocolat chaud couleur nacre désormais vide.” - Alexandre
“Signal sinusoïdal à 440Hz” - Buck
“[The sound of a laugh that echoes in a well without fading....]” - Marie
“Le son ténu, souffle, lèvres, battement de cils, que produit le sourire qui s’étire sur un visage étonné.” - Catherine
“[My sound is always different - it is the feeling of the moment]” - Marie
Photo credit: Stephan Crasneasnscki
Une application mobile réalisée par Clicmobile permettra aux visiteurs du pavillon de repartir avec cette uvre dans leur téléphone. Ils pourront naviguer dans «Le voyage dUlysse» de trois façons différentes: le temps (décompte à la seconde près), la position géographique et la fréquence hertzienne
Thank you Lillian, and Artforum, for such a thoughtful and illuminating review.
We were so pleased that so many of you turned up for Kill the Ego last Friday at Centre Pompidou, as a part of their Hors Pistes festival – both screenings were sold out and received with enthusiasm. Thanks to all of you for your support, and we hope you enjoyed the show!
Following the 8:00 screening was a discussion in which the artists spoke to the audience about the inspiration and motivation driving the film’s creation. According to the sound designers, among them Stephan Crasneanscki and Dug Winningham, the film plays with a recording’s unique ability to alter the reality of a sound: temporally, by allowing it to be heard long after it has in fact ceased, and contextually, by layering and mixing it with other sounds to create a new sonic text. The painter, Rostarr, commented on the project’s personal value to him as a means of expressing the important role that New York City has played in his life throughout the years he has called it home.
It was a great evening, and we’re looking forward to next event with Philippe Starck at the International Exit Festival in Paris later this month. Stay tuned for more details!
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Philippe Starck named “24 Hours: The Starck Mix” as one of his favorite things.
Soundwalk designed the mix as a gift for the designer mixing 24 hours of music, voices, and ambient sound. In October 09, Starck was invited as a guest editor of Wallpaper* and, in association with Soundwalk & Clicmobile, made the “24 Hours: The Starck Mix” public as an ephemeral iPhone application and webradio available for one month only.
Check out the Financial Times interview to read more about what makes Philippe Starck happy: cast-iron fireplaces, mahogany, the Louis Ghost chairs, his wife, phantasmagoria…and keep an eye out for Soundwalk’s upcoming performance with Philippe Starck in Paris next month.
“Like a night butterfly, Lou Doillon leads you through Paris’ hot, steamy Pigalle quartier – elusive doorways, shadowy alleyways, erotic spots…. Let her narration guide you through this fanciful world of the after-dark.”
So says MyLittleParis of Soundwalk’s Pigalle walk in their post, “Un iPhone dans votre lit,” about applications that transform your iPhone into “your best-friend-for-a-night.” “MyLittleParis has hand-picked a little anthology of apps for you to improve your life in any number of ways,” they explain.
MyLittleParis is a chic and selective guide to Paris. If you’re visiting the city, check them out for shopping and good eats, and then look to Soundwalk for a view of Paris you won’t get in any guidebook.
Many thanks to The Lobby, the travel trend site from Starwood Preferred Guests, for featuring Soundwalk’s NYC tours!
“Simply purchase, then download the recording online and print out the map and watch a video beforehand, if you like. You have no physical tour guide to speak of as you navigate the subway and city streets — you’re on your own in that respect! But each tour is hosted and narrated in your headphones by someone with a connection to that area or subject. With that many choices, how do you pick one? The beautiful part: You don’t have to limit yourself.” -Tamara Palmer, The Lobby
Click here to read the full article.
Find the Bronx Hip Hop Soundwalk iPhone App here.
For more videos from Soundwalk, click here.
