Claude Périard

Les lieux disparus
03.12–04.25.2026

Les lieux disparus is a 28-minute electroacoustic composition inspired by the form of the sound documentary. It was created as part of the collective project Réverbérations d’une crise: enquête sonore sur le logement, funded by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and produced in 2022 in partnership with the artist-run centre OBORO.

The work consists of a series of testimonies reflecting on disappeared places in Montreal, more specifically underground and community spaces dedicated to creation, artistic events, and collective life. Collected through social media in the form of voice memos submitted to my Messenger inbox, these testimonies weave together a topology of disappearance shaped by urban gentrification in recent years. In the background, the sound composition is built exclusively from field recordings captured at the renovation site of Place Frontenac in the spring of 2022. These recordings were subsequently reworked through various digital processes. The aesthetic intention of this “choral” composition was to develop a form of sonic counterpoint in which the voice merges with a drone-based electroacoustic texture, evoking a sense of both geographical and mental traversal for the listener.

The work was presented at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal as part of the sound documentary program in November 2023.