From 2018 to 2020, Christian Sebille, composer and sound artist, was invited in residence by Cirva - International Research Center for Glass and Plastic Arts. After researching forms and their acoustic signatures, the composer developed a project for a glass orchestra and an immersive sound installation. In this research, glass is both an object and a membrane of acoustic diffusion. Each blown form, by definition unique, releases a singular sound wave, looped, transformed and propagated by glass speakers.
"We are in an enclosed space where the glass pieces, awakened by slave mechanisms, propagate their sound identity. The lights sweep the space. Nothing seems fixed. Ten tables present unique pieces, inert, until the action of the striker. The breath of the glass artists is extended by the sound. The material goes from solid to vibrating, from frozen breath to its resounding expansion. The sounds propagate in the space, mix between their zones of propagation. The movements of the resonances require the immobility of the listener and his observation. You are in a decided place of your listening, in a place of the orchestra, close to what is strong, away from the distant.
For this particular performance, Philippe Foch uses his gestural dexterity and his sensuality to extract new sounds, while Christian Sebille takes hold of the sound material to transform it in real time and restore it.
The public attends an unheard-of journey that will lead it to an absence of the human, an awakened and autonomous mechanism.
- Christian Sebille.

Christian Sebille is a composer and artistic director of the GMEM in Marseille. He works on the realization of sound installations in situ, in particular within the framework of a series entitled Miniatures. The place of sound capture is linked to the place of its diffusion in a ratio of space compression (reduction of the diffusion space in relation to the capture space) and temporal reduction (ratio of capture time / diffusion time). Moreover, he works on the concrete sound and on the capacity of the material to be in itself its own diffuser (the instrumental object). The radiation of the material and the movement of the object (sound) play with each other.
Philippe Foch
Musician, percussionist
A versatile musician, he is a "crosser of territories": from traditional, improvised and electroacoustic music to theatrical and performative experiences. Originally a drummer, he is one of the few French percussionists to have a close relationship with the tablas, which he learned from Pandit Shankar Ghosh. The study of Indian music has influenced his approach and gives his playing and writing a rich palette combining traditional playing and contemporary sounds. His collaboration with François Cervantes began in 1986: he was an actor in Le venin des histoires, and a musician in Bars, On a marché sur la terre, Quelques jours avant l'équinoxe de printemps, Masques, Le concert. He composed the music for Le Voyage de Penazar, Les Oiseaux - Le bord du monde, Une île. His path is also marked by intense collaboration in jazz and free music with Akosh S Unit between 1993 and 2002 (9 universal albums). Les Amants de Juliette with Serge Adam and Benoit Delbecq, Les Voyageurs de l'espace, a project by Didier Petit with Claudia Solal in trio, Soleil Rouge with Didier Petit and Sylvain Kassap. His work with electronics has developed with Eryck Abecassis, Kasper Toeplitz, Philippe Le Goff, Christian Sebille and Mathias Delplanque. He joined the IRE ensemble (Franck Vigroux, Kasper Toeplitz, Helene Breschand, Christophe Ruestch). He creates a solo Taarang (15 tablas and electronics) which gives birth to an album TAARANG (with guests). He also works around the lithophone and electronics, a solo LAAND exists since 2015. Associated artist at Athenor he creates Kernel, a solo for the very early childhood; JARDIN with Philippe le Goff, piece for raw natural materials and electronics; Jardins extérieurs jours, performances in landscapes; NOUT, trio with Aurélie Maisoneuve (singing) and Kazuli Fushigami (dance) and TEMPUS3 with Aurélie Maisonneuve, as well as LOIN DES YEUX, video and sound installation with Erwan Keravec and MIST, concert performance for a territory with Christian Sebille..
In addition to his collaboration with François Cervantes and L'entreprise, he regularly composes for theater, dance and circus. Among his most recent compositions Du goudron et des plumes by Mathurin Bolze, Them no go see with choreographer Sophiatou Kossoko and FilFil by Jeanne Mordoj.
CEEAC - European Center for Contemporary Artistic Action (67)
7 Rue de l'Abreuvoir67000
Strasbourg
Christian Sebille
conception and composition
Philippe Foch
percussionist
Collectif Sonopopée
composed of
Maxime Lance
Vivien Trelcat
Nicolas Canot
mechanical and digital generative device
Cirva team
production and realization of glass
Matthieu Girard
wood and metal construction
Damien Ripoll
general management
Benoît Fremaux
general and stage management