Nature of Things

This show for 8 singers and electronic devices immerses us in the unique soundscape of the garden of Royaumont and questions the way we move, understand, communicate and exchange there. Inspired by the poem in Latin by the epicurean Titus Lucretius Carus, Se Rerum Natura, the work surrounds the audience with a whirlwind of sounds for an immersive concert experience, an experience of expression and understanding for the performers, of listening for the audience.

With modern technology we can be made to feel our world differently and to separate sounds from their original sources. We no longer need to limit vocal sounds to our immediate surroundings, they are free to resonate, not only by moving physically, but more relevantly, by using electroacoustic reproduction. By using this idea of expanding one voice into a multitude of voices and their disappearance into the electronic sounds, I’m soliciting the capacity of the artist and of the audience to truly communicate in a cluttered acoustic environment and to try to tell what is real from what is imaginary.

* The electronic setup is made up of sensors and 24 loudspeakers, hidden (buried in the ground) in a part of the Vegetable Garden.

Les Métaboles are in residence at the Abbaye de Royaumont (2018-2020)