France Jobin – – Page 16 – film soundtrack composer, sound / installation artist, curator – An architect designs works that occupy spaces; I create sound sculptures that fit in the flow of time and perception

September 21, 2014November 4, 2016

Event Horizon – Sound: France Jobin, Video: Cédrick Eymenier

EVENT HORIZON (v.9) – France Jobin – Cédrick Eymenier

Event Horizon (TRAILER) from Cedrick Eymenier on Vimeo.

EVENT HORIZON is an experimental audio/visual work by France Jobin (audio) and Cédrick Eymenier (visual) developed in the summer of 2009.The title of the piece was drawn from the physics term “event horizon” which is a bizarre boundary in space time which gives a black hole it’s name. It is the proximity point in which no matter or radiation (ex.light) can escape and thereby affect an outside observer. It is the black holes effects on its surroundings and the light that doesn’t pass the event horizon that gives physicists their awareness that the black hole exists.

This project involves the observation of a cityscape after nightfall. The minimal light observed over the city at night masks the flurry of activity that is obscured by buildings and darkness.

EVENT HORIZON explores the solitary observations of events transmitted via minimal stimuli and the understanding of the existence of incomprehensibly massive amounts of activity that cannot affect the outside observer other than the knowledge that it exists and it is obscured.

In short, it explores the interaction of the subject with the city and the emotions that come with various sensory stimuli and the contemplation of
what the darkness obscures.

France Jobin | Cédrick Eymenier

September 21, 2014September 21, 2014

Mirror Neurons – world premiere at A × S / ak-sis / FESTIVAL 2014 | CURIOSITY

Mirror Neurons : France Jobin + Fabio Perletta with xx+xy visuals
will premiere at A × S / ak-sis / FESTIVAL 2014 | CURIOSITY September 25th 2014
as part of Synergetica Screening. (see below)

AxS Festival 2014 | CURIOSITY is presenting the North American premiere of SPHAERAE, a large-scale temporary public artwork by Dutch architect Cocky Eek. SPHAERAE is an inflatable pavilion — a component of an ongoing strand of research by architect Eek into the pneumatology and tactility of inflatables and lightweight spaces. Developed in partnership with Synergetica Lab in Amsterdam and the Artscience Interfaculty program in The Hague, SPHAERAE consists of five semi-transparent bubbles of different sizes, which together form a multi-dome construction designed for immersive, synaesthetic experience.

Eek was inspired to create SPHAERAE by 10,000 Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid, an audiovisual performance work by Netherlands-based artists Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand. In 10,000 Peacock Feathers, Domnitch and Gelfand use laser light to scan the surfaces of nucleating and dissipating soap bubble clusters.

DOMNITCH GELFANDFeathers_TodaysArt

Unlike ordinary light, the laser’s focused beam is capable of generating a large-scale projection of molecular interactions as well as mind-boggling phenomena of non-linear optics. Sphæræ’sinflatable structure was designed to both serve as a platform for this uniquely spectacular work, as well as create a venue for other artists, scientists, and performers to make 180° works and compositions which explore the phenomena of light, sound and movement within the domes.

AxS Festival 2014 will present Domnitch + Gelfand in a live performance of 10,000 Peacock Feathers in Foaming Acid — the work that inspired the creation of the SPHAERAE platform — and Solunaris, a new collaborative work by William Basinski & Richard Chartier commissioned by the Pasadena Arts Council and curated by Domnitch + Gelfand.

SPHAERAE will also feature the premiere of Sol Path, a new interactive music work by composer/cognitive scientist Bruno Louchouarn.A concerto for solo viola/percussion/soundscape, Sol Path features live performance by renowned viola soloist Brett Deubner, and immersive multi-media by Asheville, North Carolina-based designer Adam Larsen.

Sol Path is inspired by the exploratory path that the Rover takes over the course of a Martian day — a Sol — which is collaboratively programmed by a team of Earth-bound explorers. Sol Path was created in part with composer Louchouarn in residency at NASA/JPL. Through his dialogues with the Mars Curiosity team — rover drivers, artificial intelligence designers, the “planetary protection team” and others — actual data from the Curiosity mission will become inputs to Louchoarn’s composition and inform the very shape of the experience.

SPHAERAE will be on view for the duration of AxS Festival 2014 | CURIOSITY and feature projects including work, as a far-ranging program of sound works, video screenings, and talks by artists including Chris Duncan, Jeff Cain,Mattia Casalegno, France Jobin, Favio Perletta, xx+xy visuals, Francisco López, Intimatchine, Lucky Dragons, Mike Harding/Touch, Yann Novak, Eric Parren, Paul Prudence, Steve Roden, Jet Smits, Julie Tolentino, Martijn Van Boven, Bas Van Koolwijk, and Virons.

SYNERGETICA SCREENING

Curated by Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, the ArtScience Interfaculty and Synergetica Lab present a series of multi-sensory performances and installations in the context of synthetic biology. Founded in 2006 in The Netherlands, Synergetica is an art-science laboratory, investigating photonics, fluid dynamics, acoustics, quantum chemistry and psychophysics.

Visit the Synergetica website: synergeticalab.com

The North American premiere of SPHAERAE is made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund and GuestHaus Residency.

September 20, 2014September 20, 2014

UNYAZI 2014 – The listening room

iP orbital from Valence released on LINE will be screened September 11 and run through September 13th in the listening room, part of UNYAZI 2014, the South African electronic music festival. The listening room is curated by Carl Stone.

“When Cameron Harris asked me if I would be interested to help curate the 2014 Unyazi Festival with an emphasis on music from what is sometimes called the Pacific Rim, I was glad to accept, and did so without hesitation. While I knew we would able to bring several wonderful artists to perform at the festival, it was clear that because of the limits of schedule and also budget many interesting artists would not be able to come in person. So I came up with the idea of a listening room, where people could gather and enjoy music in a relaxed setting, and where many pieces from my home base in Japan, as well as South Africa, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Korea, the Phillipines, Rwanda, Singapore, the USA, & Vietnam could be enjoyed. In the end, eight hours of music are being presented, all of them created especially for the medium of the loudspeaker. It has been a lot of fun to put together the program, and I hope those of you who can come by the festival and spend some time listening will enjoy it.”

— Carl Stone, Tokyo

The Listening Room

August 8, 2014

review – the illusion of infinitesimal – (baskaru) 2014 – The Sound Projector (UK)

France Jobin
The Illusion Of Infinitesimal
FRANCE BASKARU KARU:27 CD (2014)

One of the more ‘silent type’ sound art selections to cross my path of late; volume’s now up so high so I’ll probably be blasted into next year when I forget to reduce it for the next CD. Though drifting for the most part in a zero-gravity bliss state, these minimalist compositions do distinguish many a frequency between remote rotary rumbling and a fan-like spreading of sine waves that pierce the head bone, bleach neglected skull lining and fill the sterilized space with a waft of hygienic vapour.

France Jobin returns thus inspired from the realm of subatomic particles and their nebulous existential status, engaged this round by the quantum conundrum of angular momentum: as I understand it, the directional attribute possessed by gyroscopes and Frisbees. Particles possess a more limited version of this; a matter quite mysterious given that they have no discernable size. Moreover, their tendency to alternate with the wave state has rendered objective analysis a notoriously tricky business.

The compositional parallel Jobin draws from this involves working from a given emotion while neither pursuing nor exploring said state, just as one keeps an eye floater in view by keeping the eye still (to paraphrase inexpertly). From this point she painstakingly pares sounds down to their ‘unique essence’, from which point she is equipped to ‘communicate intent without influencing its unfolding, a delicate balance between perfection and detachment.’ This definition of ‘intent’ – perhaps less commonly used – can be found in meditation and internal martial arts with specific reference to the manipulation of the opposing forces of yin and yang. It can designate ‘intention’ divorced from ‘desire’: the information the brain sends to a limb for example. This neutrality is well demonstrated across these three unemotional yet involving compositions, which reveal and conceal different attributes with each listen.

The Sound Projector

August 7, 2014August 8, 2014

review – the illusion of infinitesimal – (baskaru) 2014 – adverse effect – (PL)

Three rather subdued pieces hewn from shimmering, light yet warm, tones and smooth textures by this Canadian artist already known for her sound art and installations. Whilst this work may not sound readily distinguished from so many others of a similar disposition, there is a depth to it obviously arriving from a deft hand. The fact that Lawrence English has his hand in this via the mastering job likewise indicates a wholesome grasp on matters, too. Most pleasant. (RJ)

Richard Johnson (a.k.a. Richo)
adverse effect

August 7, 2014

review – the illusion of infinitesimal – (baskaru) 2014 – Liability Webzine (FR)

Connue précédemment sous le nom de I8U, la montréalaise France Jobin sort désormais ses disques sous son propre nom. The Illusion of Infinitesimal est le deuxième du genre. Celle qui a créé le concept d’Immersound, c’est à dire un concept d’écoute pendant les concerts qui invite l’auditoire à l’exploration de sensations quels qu’ils soient, développe une musique ambient qui ne peut que s’écouter à fort volume si on veut percevoir tous les détails les plus infimes que France Jobin place astucieusement au gré de ses flottements sonores. L’infinitésimal donc. Mais où se trouve l’illusion de ce qui est infinitésimal ? En fait, ce que nous montre France Jobin c’est que ce qui est petit ou difficilement perceptible n’est qu’une vue de l’esprit. Pour percevoir ce qui semble invisible ou négligeable à l’oreille il faut que les conditions adéquate soient réunies. Cette notion d’immersion est alors indispensable et rien ne doit perturber la concentration nécessaire à son accomplissement. Et c’est à cet instant que l’on se rend compte que même ce qui est infime peut nous atteindre et nous émouvoir. La démonstration de France Jobin est, dès lors, éclatante et elle prend ici une signification toute particulière. En soi, France Jobin ne révolutionne pas en tant que telle la musique ambient mais elle lui donne des moyens de perception différents, une nouvelle approche en somme. Elle nous fait comprendre que jamais il ne faut s’arrêter à la surface de l’ambient et qu’il faut pour cela se donner les moyens afin de tout recevoir intégralement. Au lieu de se contenter des grandes allées, France Jobin nous incite à visiter ces alcôves que personne ne soupçonne. C’est une tâche qui demande de l’implication ce qui peut difficilement être dans l’ADN de tous. A une époque où la musique est devenu jetable et un produit qui ne dépasse rarement que sa valeur pécuniaire à court terme, celle de France Jobin est faite pour ceux qui n’ont pas cette écoute altérée et qui va bien au-delà des instincts les plus primaires. Il n’est pas certain que cela fasse l’unanimité.

Fabien Pondard

Liability Webzine

August 7, 2014August 7, 2014

review – the illusion of infinitesimal – (baskaru) 2014 – hawai (CL)

review – The Illusion of Infinitesimal – (baskaru) 2014

Perfection and uncertainty. La última de estas ediciones publicadas por Baskaru es también la última de las publicaciones de una artista que anteriormente recogimos en este pequeño sitio, una pequeña cobertura para una historia desarrollada por más de quince años, la cual se cruzó con nosotros justo en el momento que descubrió su personalidad de manera explícita, justo cuando iniciaba una nueva etapa que tiene con este trabajo su segundo capítulo. France Jobin fue antes I8U, nombre con el que publicó, sola o acompañada, catorce obras entre 1999 y 2011, para prestigiosas editoriales como Pandora, Bake, Oral, Room40, Atak, Non Visual Objects, Murmur y Dragon’s Eye. Una historia importante de esta compositora y artista sonora canadiense nacida en 1958 y residente en Montreal. Hace apenas dos años es que decidió emplear su nombre propio para firmar sus composiciones. Ese trabajo fue“Valence” (LINE, 2012) [184], un inmersión en las partículas de audio silente dentro del mutismo del label dirigido por Richard Chartier. “The Illusion Of Infinitesimal” es la continuación temporal, donde la artista se encierra todavía más en las panorámicas silenciosas. Tres piezas, tres prolongados desarrollos de minimalismo electrónico y ruido ambiental reducido a su expresión más esencial. Como France señala “‘The Illusion Of Infinitesimal’ representa otra oportunidad de refinar la esencia única de cada sonido y composición, en un esfuerzo de intentar comunicar mejor sin influir en su desdoblamiento, un delicado balance entre la perfección y la separación”. El universo sonoro de Jobin se concentra en si mismo, una introspección que limita lo más posible cualquier estridencia, dejando que las explosiones de sonido se conviertan en implosiones. El volumen al que son reproducidas las materias de esta obra alcanzan niveles muy bajos, al límite de lo perceptible, y solo con una cuidada atención logran percibirse las ricas capas que quedan subyacentes a la aparente quietud. La deliberada pasividad hace de este álbum uno que exige una extrema delicadeza al oírla, y solo así se descubre su misterio, las ecuaciones ocultas en el vacío. “-1/2” es, en realidad, tres fragmentos enlazados, una pista donde se distinguen tres etapas. La calma implacable de tonos vaporosos, una partitura donde el borde entre una anotación y la siguiente se desvanece, apuntado por lo que parece ser una solitaria nota de piano. Esa delicadeza enterrada deja ver la extrema belleza detrás del manto, la que avanza hacia otras formas de acordes desgastados y repetición, y más tarde a una electrónica que no es más que el brillo de una energía blanca inmaculada. “0” esta construida de remanentes orgánicos, de cuerdas extraídas de madera añeja, o al menos eso aparenta. La fragilidad de una acústica manual convertida en un loop contrasta con estratos de electrónica ínfima que incluso hacen pensar en aquel digitalismo sistémico de fin de siglo aunque cubierto de densidad, la que se posa sobre la repetición orgánica por unos minutos, dejando finalmente que los acordes sigan reiterándose. “+1” no es otra cosa que un destello infinito, el brillo de esta electrónica transparente que avanza tanto a nivel auditivo como visual. Se puede tanto escuchar como ver los sonidos que se desplazan a lo largo de los más de mil segundos de esta pieza que comienza a crecer lenta y paulatinamente, como partículas microscópicas que concentran masa y energía alrededor de su núcleo, hasta decantar en un resplandor incandescente, una eclosión tardía de estruendos contenidos. “The Illusion Of Infinitesimal”, estas composiciones de France Jobin conforman una enorme obra de ruido digital estático, la ilusión de la quietud en manchas minúsculas y notas que se desvanecen en el silencio.

Hawai

August 7, 2014