1
in the stairwell and the showroom
sentences

The first installation consists of a series of short phrases—chopped up, frayed, and stuttered—that move across 8 speakers mounted on the walls at various heights in the stairwell and the small exhibition room.
A plurality of voices—anonymous and of various ages—accompanies visitors as they ascend, descend, and pass through the space, following linear, pointillist trajectories
as sharp as arrows. A dotted line of speech, punctuated
by very long silences.
The fragments are cut at the level of the sentence, the word, and the syllable ; It is this scale that determines the rhythm and cadence of the sound appearances, the shifts across successive speakers, and the sections of the journey.
The work, presented in this way, is a long, open narrative
—a possible fiction—that seems infinite, with no apparent beginning or end, and which, through the random capture
of fragments and subjective states, evokes allusions to the difficulty of memorization or speech, to falling asleep, to waking, to light, to mental and spatial journeys, to inaction, to falling, and to potential catastrophe.

 

2
in the area known as the “salon”
syllables

The same voices can be heard in the lounge area, for the second installation along the tour. A listening lounge, featuring a more focused piece, for a more immersive listening experience.
This time, the breakdown occurs at the level of the individual syllable: a set of syllables (drawn from the same sentences heard earlier), scattered, fragmented, and broadcast in a circular pattern
—zigzagging and bouncing—across the 8 speakers mounted
on the four walls.
The work presents a syntax-free sequence—bordering on abstraction, whose logic may elude us—of atomized, dislocated, suspended, orphaned, or yet-to-be-recomposed words, as if awaiting meaning and new combinations.
For those in search of meaning, a miracle can occur when a few syllables collide and create a novel combination—familiar ground,
a semblance of a word, a stammering syntax—for a possible, embryonic, and intimate narrative.

3
in the large ambulatory corridor
exhalations

In the third stage of the journey, the same voices reappear in the large ambulatory corridor leading to the terrace and the terraces. But here, these voices are wordless, without text—as if mute. The work consists of a range of vocal gestures; linked to different states, emotions, and manifestations of a minimal human presence.
Someone—a man or a woman—humms, coughs, breathes, calls out, laughs, sighs, shouts. And all the indefinite, indefinable exhalations. The sound composition draws on the vast length of the space and the sheer height of the wall, creating a relationship and tension—across the 8 speakers mounted at varying heights—between a set
of lines and curves (for sustained, prolonged voices: humming, shouts, strained breaths) and points (short, punctuated voices: breaths, coughs, laughter, calls).
A chorus of emotions and presences, on the edge of music.