Many thanks to Blast Magazine for its piece on Ulysses’ Syndrome at Voix Vives festival this week! Blast announced the installation by saying, “[Stephan Crasneanscki, photographer and invited Editor in Chief of Blast magazine #30, presents his installation Ulysses' Syndrome at the contemporary poetry festival Voix Vives, taking place in Sète for the first time this summer.]” In the past, Blast has mentioned Ulysses’ here and Stephan Crasneanscki here. Thanks for the continuous coverage, Blast!
Voix Vives festival is still in full swing! For more info, head here.
Blast Magazine, a French Design, fashion, and culture publication, has featured Soundwalk’s Ulysses’ Syndrome installation at the Shanghai 2010 Expo on their site this week, April 3, 2010. The review, written by Guillaume Fédou, names Ulysses’ Syndrome as “[the most ambitious piece of sound art since Homer's Odyssey, dipping its toes in the China Sea]“.
“[Ulysses continues his trek to the port of Shanghai, mixing the flavors of the Mediterranean with the fruits of the China Sea. A 24-hour work of sound gathering a range of fragments recorded in autumn 2009 between Troy and Ithaca (passing by the Gulf of Naples, Palermo, the Stromboli Volcano and the Eolie Islands, Carthage), Ulysses' Syndromeis likely Soundwalk's most ambitious work since the film Kill the Ego. The fact that it is being presented today, in Shanghai, is no coincidence since it is there the mythology of the twenty-first century is playing out. It is situated in the center of the cosmopolitan city, on Nankin street (the equivalent of the Champs-Elysées) in an ancient Taoist temple named Hong Niao (red bird)
The Ulysses' installation is realized in relation with a series of projects for Lille 3000 (for which Soundwalk has also created an installation titled Room Number 8 with the voice of renowned actress Joan Chen in the Saint Sauveur train station reborn as Hotel Europa). The project was curated by Didier Fusillier, who also headed the Exit festival at MAC Créteil. [The installation occupies] a freely accessible terrace in the heart of the most passionate city in the world, contrary to the French Pavilion, which one must pay to enter. Amongst the dozens of other pavilions, Ulysses remains proud and free: not much has changed since the days when he left, and then returned to his kingdom in Ithaca]”.
French design, fashion and culture journal Blast Magazine has featured an interview of Philippe Starck on their website this month (April 2010). Philippe Starck talks about his passion for sound and music and his lifelong search for his own sound. The interview was recorded in anticipation of the performance of le Son du Nous, a sonic adventure that was the result of a collaboration between Soundwalk, Starck and Dalbin which premiered at MAC Créteil March 18 and 19, 2010. Blast and Starck had already met to discuss sound last year, where the designer named the three sounds most personal to him.
Blast Magazine has featured an interview with Soundwalk founder Stephan Crasneanscki on their website this month (May 2010). A French publication, Blast profiles the best of what’s happening in design, fashion, and culture. Stephan Crasneanscki expounds upon le Son du Nous, “[A beautiful metaphor of our existence on earth],” and working with designer Philippe Starck.
“[Le Son du Nous was an idea put in place by Philippe. He wanted to revisit sound, sound is a part of his craft. We spoke about revisiting sound in all its forms, in every context, and putting it on stage. For us it was a chance to use Soundwalk's extensive archives, which we've been collecting for ten years: sounds from everywhere in the world-- India, China, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Rio, and to compose a score. It's an odyssey of the history of sound from the cosmos to the fall of the Twin Towers, which is, I believe, the last sound truly symbolizing the age we are now at the heart of.
We created this performance, which was purely audio and not visual. It was interesting because we set it on a stage used for live performances- theater, dance, cinema. This was only sound and Philippe Starck to present it: le Son du Nous was almost orchestral-- thus we performed our odyssey of sound. It was an incredible encounter: Philippe Starck is extremely creative and has a contagious enthusiasm. We collaborated with incredible musicians and sound designers and six sound engineers who work with me at Soundwalk to compose, live, this adventure of sound.
We create audio tracks at Soundwalk but this was the first time we've ever performed on stage, confronted with a live audience of 1,000 people. It was a Proustian experience, a reminiscence through sound. The audience was given the chance to feel the sounds and respond with their own emotions. It was an extraordinary event because I had never before performed live. To find myself in a situation of orchestration, creating pure emotion was very powerful. People do Soundwalks, but I don't see them or their reactions. It was moving to see people who were touched by the performance, if they loved it or hated it, either way they felt something.
It was an amazing idea of Philippe Starck's to evoke the sort of primal scream at the end. One thousand people stood up and screamed in unison, all sharing in the climax of the performance. We captured this scream and will send the recording, encapsulated, into space. In three thousand, or even four hundred million years, it will remain as an enduring record of us. It is everything rolled into one: joy, hate, love-- a metaphor of our existence.]”
In his interview with Blast, Starck discusses the value of sound and his passion for it. He declares that sound is more important than music, and that we have a physiological need for sound. Sound is the closest thing to our souls. Each person has a sound: we must look for the sounds closest to us. Starck speaks about how he associates sound with different parts of himself, and how these associations evolve throughout the day. This idea is the inspiration for 24 hours: The Starck Mix, a “bespoke” mix of ambient sound and music composed by Soundwalk.
Philippe Starck applies this concept of sound in his upcoming collaboration with Soundwalk: it is an exploration of sound which is intimate and personal, while at the same time collective and universal. Each of our personal sounds, when heard together, form LE SON DU NOUS: the sound of us.
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This is an excerpt of a phone interview with Philippe Starck for BLAST Magazine about his passion for music and sound. We used Erik Satie’s Gnossienne (No. 4) in the background, it was one of the 10 pieces listed on his BLAST playlist.
How about you? What sound do you think expresses who you are? Answer here and win tickets to “Le Son du Nous” show on March 19 & 20 at MAC Créteil.
Image and audio courtesy of Stephan Crasneanscki and BLAST Magazine
Image and audio courtesy of Stephan Crasneanscki and BLAST Magazine
This is an excerpt of a phone interview with Philippe Starck for BLAST Magazine about his passion for music and sound. We used Eric Satie’s Gnossienne (No. 4) in the background, it was one of the 10 pieces listed on his BLAST playlist.
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.
