Concert
ARCHITEK PERCUSSION & CONTRECHAMPS - KINO-SONIQUE / SEMAINE DU NEUF
Babel · Zea · Lizée
Past event
Between repurposed technologies, digital avatars and everyday objects, this triptych explores the many faces of contemporary sound.
Daniel Zea offers a performance for facial recognition in which the digital avatar reveals the tensions between human expression and algorithm. Nicole Lizée, meanwhile, brings the machines of the past back to life in a quadraphonic creation in which glitch becomes poetic material. Finally, Alexandre Babel overturns sound hierarchies by sculpting the raw beauty of ‘poor’ sounds, derived from found objects and simple gestures.
Three works that, each in their own way, question our relationship with technology, memory and imperfection — and redefine the boundary between human, machine and matter.
Fascinated by obsolete technologies, Nicole Lizée explores malfunction and the aesthetics of imperfection to "go beneath the surface of things." She incorporates atypical instruments into her works—Atari 2600, omnichords, stylophones, Simon™ games, or karaoke tracks—as well as a video device and quadraphonic sound in her new creation for Contrechamps.
Daniel Zea stages the contrast between a computer-analyzed face and its digital avatar. Through a score for face and facial recognition, his movements animate the avatar and trigger the electronics, while the instrumentalists respond in complement or contrast, emphasizing the tension between digital and acoustic.
Commissioned for Architek Percussion, The Brown Gardener brings together four percussionists playing on bell plates made of simple materials. The layered rhythmic patterns create a continuously evolving counterpoint. The title evokes an Indonesian bird that composes assemblages of objects, recalling the care taken in choosing the instruments.
Partners: Pro Helvetia, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), Canada Council for the Arts (CAC), CEM (Center for Musical Experimentation), SUISA Foundation
Credits
- Ben Duinker percussions, Architek Percussion
- Noam Bierstone percussions, Architek Percussion
- Alexander Haupt percussions, Architek Percussion
- Alessandro Valiante percussions, Architek Percussion
- Susanne Peters flutes, Contrechamps
- Laurent Bruttin clarinets, Contrechamps
- Simon Aeschimann electric guitar, Contrechamps
- Charles Pierron horn, Contrechamps
- Hans Egidi viola, Contrechamps
- Martina Brodbeck cello, Contrechamps
Programme
World premiere
Alexandre Babel The brown gardener2025
World premiere
Daniel Zea AUTORRETRATO EXTENDIDO2026
ensemble instrumental, vidéo et tracking facial
World premiere
Nicole Lizée Crxssfaaz2026
ensemble, video and electronics
Practical information
Where is the concert held?
Studio-Théâtre | Édifice Wilder
What are the ticket prices?
| Solidarity | 45$ |
| Regular | 35$ |
| Reduced | 25$ |
