Exhibition views of Futurologies, 2020

Photos © Aurélien Mole

Futurologies

Félix Pinquier’s exhibition

12 Sept. — 12 Dec. 2020

  • Curating:Marc Bembekoff
  • Opening:11 Sept. 2020

Félix Pinquier (born in 1983, lives and works in Paris) examines the subtle ways in which the reciprocal shifts between the crafts and the industrial come to be revealed. As a science aficionado he finds a working basis at the intersection of the machine and the handmade, where a carefully honed knowledge of mathematical and technological history informs and fuels his sculptures, drawings and installations.

 

In an intermingling of ruins and innovation, of archaeology and technology, Félix Pinquier is offering an exhibition of new and unshown works gathered together under the title “Futurologies”. As a discipline, futurology consists in constructing scenarios for a possible future out of rational, objective data. By appropriating this forward-looking dimension, he comes up with disturbing, intriguing works, omens of a sanitised future, conducive to unrestrained imaginings and presaging a seemingly two-tiered, orthonormal world. Made with tools both manual and digital, his perfectly curvilinear drawings make up a repertoire of downy, airy shapes, a kind of continuum of pure geometrical figures, inspired equally by nature and robotics.

With their emphasis on concave and convex shapes with ethereal surfaces, Félix Pinquier’s sculptures remind us of engineers’ prototypes or sound wave receivers and transmitters – mechanical, acoustic and/or electromagnetic – like speakers rendered mute, which reveal all their  strength in response to the light and spatial proportions of La Galerie. With their pulled plaster reminiscent of the building’s decorative mouldings, these scattered elements seem to interconnect in the exhibition through a clever system of networking running from floor to ceiling, like twisted, weightless alembics.

The perspective of Lucas Genas, percussionist

Inspired by geometric, aeronautic and industrial forms, the Félix Pinquier’s sculptures evoke the noise of machines, the repetition of helicopter blades, the click-clack of metal being rivetted, and such.

Percussionist Lucas Genas* is taking part in the exhibition “Futurologies” to offer a sonic experience, paying particular attention to the rhythm and melody of the voice, the musicality of the gestures and to the instruments. Through five contemporary pieces by Georges Aperghis, Alexandre Babel, Alexandros Markeas, Thierry de Mey and his own work, he gives his own unique perspective on the artist’s sculptures and drawings.

 

*Percussionist Lucas Genas is a professor at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental de Tarbes.

 

 

FILM PROGRAMME

 

● Silence Must Be (2002), Thierry de Mey

Soundtrack: Jérémie Cresta

 

In this piece for a “solo conductor”, the composer reveals backstage and situates the conductor in front of the audience, without musicians. The piece reverses the usual codes, allowing the audience to “see the sounds”. In effect, the gestures and chorography of the hands trigger an auditory mechanism, since the spectator can perceive and imagine the sounds and the rhythm while being stimulated only by what they see. Two of the score’s sequences are accompanied by a soundtrack, making it possible to hear a possible interpretation of the gestures. By placing the spectator in the place of the musician, they become a real actor of their own imagination.

 

● Zig Bang & Conversations (2004, extracts), Georges Aperghis

 

Over the course of his work, renowned musical theatre composer Georges Aperghis developed a series of texts written following musical processes. He emphasises sounds, phonemes, rhythm, modulations, rather than “dramatic” meaning. Often tinged with humour, these texts reveal a unique sonic universe, the very poetic language highlighting the musicality of the spoken voice.

 

● Music for small audience 1 (2003), Alexandre Babel

 

In a very subtle way this piece for a solo snare drum exploits the acoustic possibilities of this instrument that is, in fact, not intended to be played solo. The form is very distinctive and consists of three parts. The first is based on the progressive construction of a pattern, which finally reveals an extremely intricate “mechanism” in seven different sounds. In the second part we hear the full power of the instrument, the “drum”. But it borrows more from electronic music, where we start from a raw, saturated sound that progressively modulates, as if a filter were being applied. These sonic materials finally intermingle in a third part, which opens the instrument’s sound spectrum.

 

● Improvisation on a soundtrack (2005), Alexandros Markeas

 

This improvisation is the result of a practice developed and taught by the composer himself, among others: generative improvisation. The idea is simple: at the beginning of a concert, the musician discovers an electroacoustic soundtrack and begins a dialogue, a counterpoint with it. It is a way to develop the spontaneity of gesture, auditory reactivity, to find musical solutions to the unknown, the surprising, by seeking to be one with, or the inverse, to “cut” with electronics. In this space, everything becomes possible! 

 

● Music for percussion #1 (2017), Lucas Genas

 

The sonic material of this piece is made of earthenware objects, which are not instruments as such. The idea is to let people hear the infinitesimal, the breath that comes from everyday objects, by amplifying them and passing them through the electronic spectrum. To be attentive to the modulations, accumulations, the “errors” that appear and let yourself be carried away by the earthenware instruments…

Around the exhibition

Thursday 1st October 2020, 6:30pm – 8pm

“Une histoire de l’art machine”
Talk by Marc Bembekoff, La Galerie director

Part of the Sciences Infuses 2020 festival

Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier
3 rue Jean Jaurès
F-93130 Noisy-le-Sec
+33 (0)1 83 74 57 61

 

Thursday 8 October 2020, 6:30pm – 8pm

“Your turn with Machine Art”

Digital art workshop
Part of the Sciences Infuses 2020 festival

Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier
3 rue Jean Jaurès
F-93130 Noisy-le-Sec
+33 (0)1 83 74 57 61

 

Saturday 21 November 2020, 2:30pm – 6pm (canceled)

“Épater La Galerie”
2:30pm: Sound illustrations from the exhibition, by students from the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatory
5pm: Sound performance by Lucas Genas, percussionist*

 

*The sound performance by Lucas Genas cannot take place, a sound recording is broadcast on the La Galerie’s Youtube channel and social networks: performance by Lucas Genas

 

5pm (alternative): Virtual guided tour of the exhibition with Félix Pinquier

Inscription: lagalerie@noisylesec.fr

Creative Saturdays (6–12 years)

Each Saturday, 2:30pm  4pm (except for school holidays) 

Free workshops, by registration: lagalerie.publics@noisylesec.fr

 

With artist Céline Drouin Laroche, participants explore a number of visual techniques connected to the exhibition.

 

More information on the Creative Saturdays

“Sous tous les angles” workshop (13–17 years)
  • From 26 to 30 October 2020, 10:30am 12am 
  • Sculpture and digital drawing workshop in collaboration with Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier
  • Conceived by Anna Ternon (artist, La Galerie) and Cyril Pirali (head of multimedia service, Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier)

 

Based around the exhibition “Futurologies” by Félix Pinquier, La Galerie and Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier propose a workshop for teenagers to design a three-dimensional form. The realisation will be done with modelling software (3D) and in a workshop using a casting technique. 

 

Booking: lagalerie.publics@noisylesec.fr

Educational workshops (schools, extracurricular activities)

“1, 2, 3 Prunelles” sessions (2×90 minutes + an excursion)

 

  • “La musique des formes et des couleurs” with artist Anna Ternon: creation of a new kind of musical writing from shapes and colours.

 

  • “Dessins géométriques” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: working on geometric forms in the same way as Félix Pinquier.

 

Discovery sessions (2h)

 

  • “Composition silencieuse” with artist Anna Ternon: creation of an abstract sculpture from objects designed for sound diffusion.

 

  • “Dessins géométriques” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: working in geometric forms in the same way as Félix Pinquier.

 

  • “Acoustigraphie” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: creation of a graphic score from a piece played on a Cristal Baschet (a musical instrument).

 

  • “Effet Boukibaki” with artist Céline Drouin Laroche: creation of forms and invention of names based on the scientific study of the “bouba-kiki effect” that shows a non-arbitrary correspondence between the visual shape of an object and how its name is pronounced.

 

More information on the educational workshops

“Plastimédias” with Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier
  • “Sous tous les angles” project 
  • Conceived by Anna Ternon (artist, La Galerie) and Cyril Pirali (head of multimedia service, Médiathèque Roger-Gouhier)
  • Audience: a CM2 class from école Alfred de Musset
  • Duration: 6×90 minutes, over 3 weeks

 

Pupils design a three-dimensional form like Félix Pinquier. The realisation is done with modelling software (3D) and in a workshop using a casting technique. 

 

More information on the “Plastimédias” projects

“Culture et Art au Collège”
  • “Futurologies” project
  • With artist Félix Pinquier
  • Audience: year 8 class from collège Jacques Prévert

 

Félix Pinquier leads a series of workshops demonstrating the possible connections between sonic and visual, material and volumetric ideas. The objective for the students is to produce at least one sound piece (reflecting work on language undertaken during sound recording workshops), but also small volumes or visual supports thought as an assemblage of varied elements related to the textual work, the workshop, the world of work and their daily lives. They then create collages to work through ideas of composition, graphic design, typography, layout and the juxtaposition of images and text.  

 

More information on the “Culture et Art au Collège” projects

More information