A residency focused on listening to sound recordings made in the field in Tunisia and Turkey during previous residencies, with initial edits for a sound installation scheduled for October 2026.
"Criées – Rites of the Mediterranean Coast " is an artistic research project exploring ritual traditions, cultural transmission, and memories that flow from one side of the Mediterranean to the other.
Based on fieldwork conducted among communities of African descent in Turkey and Tunisia focusing on the Dana Baïrami and Stambeli rituals, the project explores the following questions: How do these rituals survive major upheavals? How do they adapt or disguise themselves in order to survive? How do they disappear? How do they reemerge, and for what reasons?
Through sound recordings, songs, stories, and live performances, *Criées* seeks to capture the voices, silences, and calls that echo from one region to another.
Through an approach that combines field research, listening, and creativity, Criées also seeks to honor those whose voices were silenced in the middle of the Mediterranean, while exploring what, despite everything, continues to circulate, resist, and sing.
Co-production
, Lieux Publics, Centre National des Arts de la Rue et de l'Espace Public; Pôle Européen de Production
Supported by
The French Institute of Tunisia – Sfax Branch; The French Institute through the PIDA aid program
Chloé Despax
Radio writer, composer, and sound artist
For the past dozen years, Chloé Despax has been exploring the various possibilities offered by sound: documentary, fiction, field recording, sound poetry, performance, and installation.
Radio and sound allow her to explore relational spaces nourished by the collective, performance, and music.
Her creations take the form of installations, performances, and sound experiences presented notably at the Mucem in Marseille (FR), the Jean Rouch Festival (FR), at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris (FR), at ARGOS Center for Art and Media (BE), at the Marrakech Biennale (MA), at the Longueurs d’ondes Festival in Brest (FR), at the PolyPhoniK Festival in Tinos (GR), at the New York Radio Awards (USA), as well as in Casablanca and Tangier (MA).
Alexandra Satger
Composer
Alexandra Satger has always had a close connection to the music of New Orleans and the Caribbean, as well as to marching bands and choirs. For over ten years, she has founded and directed the Afrimayé choir, which brings together around a hundred singers.
She joined the Rara Woulib Company in 2012 as an actress, singer, arranger, and choir director, continuing her exploration of ritual and sacred music. She directs several stage productions, includingMadam Waits, Louise and the Po’boys, andSouvnans, a production blending tradition and jazz.
She also leads numerous projects with amateur performers from all walks of life, notably with the Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence. She founded Cie du Bayou in 2018 to further the connections between music, theater, and both professional and amateur artists.
Julien Marchaisseau
Director
Julien Marchaisseau is adirector, creator of public art projects, and percussionist. Trained in civil engineering, he discovered Voodoo percussion in Haiti in the early 2000s.
Upon returning to France, he developed a career blending theater, set design, lighting, and site-specific creations. In 2007, he launched the Rara Woulib project, a company based in Marseille whose productions take over public spaces and explore the ways the city is used.
His work blends theater, ritual music, urban cultures, and immersive creations, both in France and internationally. He develops collective projects that combine artistic creation, local context, and social engagement.
For several years, he has also led projects with residents and people from diverse backgrounds, affirming art as a space for encounter and for personal and collective transformation.
Chloé Despax
radio writer, composer, and sound artist
Julien Marchaisseau
, director of the Rara Woulib Company
Alexandra Satger
composer, choir director