Espaces d’interaction #1
The use of technology has been part of SIXTRUM’s artistic work for many years. Our new Espaces d’interaction series aims to explore different modes of interaction over the coming years, through the creation of new works based on the notions of interaction, spatialization and the human-machine relationship. Each project will enable the percussionists to collaborate with a group of Quebec and Canadian creators, a mix of established and emerging artists.
For this first season, Espaces d’interaction #1 explores the notion of control in the interaction between musicians, as well as between musicians and the machine, but also that of the game, playful or entertaining, whose rules are not always explicit. The commission to Örjan Sandred, professor of composition at the University of Manitoba, was the starting point for the project: Tilting Points, which evokes memories of the game of pinball, pits the performers against each other and against the machine, which will eventually choose a winner. Pierre Michaud’s ensō, premiered in 2016 and presented in a revised version today, places the performers in a situation of interdependence, while Martin Daigle’s SextetEmulator places them in a game of tarot with somewhat hijacked conventions to give rise to guided and playful improvisations, unique to each performance. A collaboration between composers Alexandre Amat for the acoustic part, and Simon Chioini for the electronic part, Dissolution offers a universe of timbres in which the acoustic sounds interact with each other to transform themselves continuously, in the manner of an electroacoustic work, while the electronic part takes up in canon these effects of transformation by extending the diffusion of sound to the entire concert hall. The works respond to each other by following on from each other, thanks to the creation of short electroacoustic works by Garbielle Caux, who uses elements from the other works mixed with acoustic recordings made during our creation workshops, to create new interactions and guide the audience from one sound universe to another.