Skip to content

TAG ARCHIVES: Le Rendez-Vous

24HOURS: STARCK’S PERSONAL SOUNDSCAPE

24 hours picture 600x379 24HOURS: STARCKS PERSONAL SOUNDSCAPE

24 Hours: The Starck Mix is a “bespoke” mix created as a gift for the designer Philippe Starck. The project, arranged, composed, and mixed by Soundwalk was over a year in the making. It is a unique mix of ambient sounds, music, and voices made available in the form of an iphone application in partnership with Wallpaper.

In an interview with French radio France Culture, Starck named 24 Hours: The Starck Mix as “the most beautiful gift [he] has ever received.”

Listen to an exclusive 20 minute clip from 24 Hours: The Starck Mix at 4pm.

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.

Soundwalk and Starck will present the performance show, LE SON DU NOUS, at MAC Créteil‘s International Exit Festival, March 19th and 20th. The performance will provide a unique look at another side of the well known designer, as he shares with us his passion for sound.

To buy tickets, call 01 45 13 19 19 or click here to book on MAC Créteil’s site.


MARC HURI: SOUNDS OF WHO HE IS TODAY

marchuri MARC HURI: SOUNDS OF WHO HE IS TODAY

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


FROM “LE SON DU NOUS” TO “LE SON DU MOI”

France Culture 450x450 FROM LE SON DU NOUS TO LE SON DU MOI

Philippe Starck and Soundwalk‘s co-founder Alex Kummerman spoke with France Culture’s “Le Rendez-Vous” last night. “Le Rendez-Vous,” broadcast by France Culture, is a French public radio show which broadcasts every weeknight. It takes the form of interviews relating to topics of news, politics, and culture. Starck and Kummerman were invited to introduce their concepts on sound and the upcoming LE SON DU NOUS show,  produced by Dalbin, at MAC Créteil’s International Exit Festival, March 19 & 20.

8 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PHILIPPE STARCK’S INTERVIEW WITH FRANCE CULTURE (in French only)

Known primarily as a designer, Starck is quick to declare his passion for sound and music. When asked about LE SON DU NOUS, Starck declares what he finds most interesting about the show is that he does not yet know the sound of us. It will be created at the performance. Starck finds this both humorous and fascinating: his aim with LE SON DU NOUS is to “open a door,” and encourage each person to find his own unique sound.

He makes a comparison to Franco-Swiss filmmaker Godard’s Alphaville: in which the main character, played by Eddie Constantine, opens door after door in a corridor that serves as a metaphor for the human mind. Starck’s aim is to “open up” our minds, giving us a view of what is inside.

Sound is a concept that is very dear to Starck. He sees sound as something that is not only heard, but more importantly, recieved. Starck describes sound as a space, something verging on the physical. He names 24 Hours: The Starck Mix, a “bespoke” mix of ambient sound and music created by Soundwalk for the designer, as the most incredible gift he has ever received. In passionate words, Starck describes the mix as “like a drug,” creating an imaginary space which was all at once “extraordinary, rich, eclectic, and moving.”

Soundwalk’s Alex Kummerman speaks about how our capacity to transmit sound has grown in recent years. He cites the advances in digital music and the availability of high quality-sound on personal music devices. He claims that the ipod can rival any large radio antenna, and has changed the way in which we consume sound.

It is the relationship between Starck and Soundwalk where the soundscape is created: it is an encounter between a designer (whose work resides in the production of material objects) and a sound art collective (whose work resides in the manipulation of the immateriality of sound). The two combine to create a space that is both physical and imaginary.

We are given a sample of this concept with a Live Session by Marc Huri, a Soundwalk collaborator who will be on stage for the realisation of LE SON DU NOUS.