Thomas Germanaud, «À une partition cartographique».

Thomas Germanaud, «À une partition cartographique».

Post Audio

Thomas Germanaud

Réveil d'une capitale

EXHIBITION /
JANUARY 12 TO FEBRUARY 18, 2017

OPENING /
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 8PM

Thomas Germanaud’s multidisciplinary practice is currently guided by his focus on the city and his desire to experiment with its various elements and scale, the way one might experiment with materials in the studio. To achieve this, he creates projects that observe and question the urban environment in different ways, such as through the city’s aural and cartographical dimensions. Video and audio installations, maps, graphic scores and audio works are developed according to the unique properties of each project. His work oscillates between generative art, graphic elements and sound composition; between the random samplings of a flâneur and the precise orchestration of a musician. He readily uses visual art strategies to create audio works, and conversely, musical techniques in the production of visual art.

Initiated in 2014, this project is a recreation of the emblematic 1914 composition Risveglio di una Città (Awakening of a City), by the Italian painter and founding father of noise music, Luigi Russolo. By reimagining Russolo’s piece, which proposed a sonic interpretation of the city more than a century ago, Germanaud’s version offers fresh insight into the modern city through both sound and visual elements, with Montreal as its exploratory field, yielding several hours of recorded urban noise. By reinterpreting Luigi Russolo’s score through his own compositional protocols, modern technologies and numerous recordings throughout the city, a new audio piece has been created. Visitors are encouraged to hear their city with fresh ears, and to see it transcribed and recomposed anew in the form of a cartographical score

 

Thomas Germanaud is a young French artist who has lived in Québec for the past two years, and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Visual and Media Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal. His work looks at how we experience the city and its systems of representation, particularly through its spatial, graphic and aural dimensions.

The artist would like to thank Oriane Goursaud, whose unfailing support helped bring this project to fruition. Thanks are also extended to Anne Bénichou, and to the entire team at Centre CLARK.