France Jobin – Page 32 – film soundtrack composer, sound / installation artist, curator

April 18, 2009April 1, 2010

Review – 10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Eric Hill, Exclaim

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008
From Holst’s The Planets to Eno’s Apollo, composers have glanced spaceward for inspiration and grandeur. Montreal’s France Jobin goes the extra step by turning outwards then inwards to explore ideas of String Theory, the title being the theoretical size of strings that make up, well, everything. Music, or purely expressed sound, is a logical art form to tackle these complex ideas, as little else exists in time and space quite the same way. The seven pieces have a scientific precision and clarity, placing each tone and texture in an aural description of nearly dimensionless particles. The vibratory interactions of these particles, or strings, stir high end frequencies that snap together like microscopic jigsaws, and waves of drone that describe a closed or looped model. Slipping just out of silence into the auditory field intensifies a reflex to lean towards the discovery of curious phenomena. Whether or not Jobin’s work inspires you to more deeply consider reality it can be enjoyed for its wonderful minimalist construction.
-Eric Hill
Address: http://www.room40.org

April 11, 2009April 5, 2010

New Orleans 04.19.2009 – Sommeil

April 11.09

beginning at 10:00 pm on Saturday April 11th and ending at 7:00 am on Sunday April 12th

$15 including breakfast. All participants are asked to provide their own sleeping bag and pillow.
You can also spend meditation time in the Sleep Space on April 11th from noon till 9:00 pm: $5 per hour and $3 per half hour. From 6:00-9:00 pm the gallery will participate in the St Claude Arts District Gallery Opening Saturday. All proceeds benefit Antenna Gallery.

Antenna Gallery
3161 Burgundy St
New Orleans, LA
70117 in the Bywater.

in the heart of the St Claude Arts District.
Tanner Menard, Antenna Gallery and Experimedia Records presents Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep, an international collaborative experiment. Sommeil will be an all-night event beginning at 10:00 pm on Saturday April 11th and ending on Sunday April 12th at 7:00 am.

Participants are asked to slowly fall asleep while live ambient and environmental music is performed through the night by Tanner Menard. i8u’s circadian will start off the evening, alongside Tanner Menard’s piano recordings and Mathieu Rhulmann’s baby cooing.

Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep will be Menard’s reinterpretation of the sleep concert experiment, first created by Robert Rich in 1982 and will be presented at the Antenna Gallery 3161 Burgundy
The concert will be realized with Rich’s permission and guidance. Sleep concerts are all-night events in which the audience is asked to attend the concert with a sleeping bag and pillow and to fall asleep while a slowly unfolding sonic texture evolves over the course of the night and into the morning. People attending
the event are asked to be willing to sleep during the event or at least to remain silent during the course of the nine hour experience.

Not merely a recreation of Rich’s original idea, Sommeil is a conceptual, global remix of a performance type that addresses one of the most basic functionalities of ambient and environmental sound; music by which to sleep.

In the spirit of remix and the Creative Commons movement, Menard, a Louisiana native, has compiled submissions of audio material for the concert from nearly seventy artists across the globe.
These artists answered a call for submissions marketed online by Experimedia Records which asked for music and field recording to be used, remixed and mashed up during this nocturnal event.
Submissions include drones, found sound, recordings of natural and unnatural environments and synthetic music created on synthesizers and computers. Submitters have included radio scientists,
geologists, psychologists, sound artists, musicians, composers, installation artists as well as several well known figures in the ambient music scene. During the course of the evening, Menard
will remix these sleep submissions into a constantly evolving sonic texture that will lull the audience to sleep. A quad-channel surround sound system will be provided by Piety St Studios for maximum sonic enhancement of the sleep space and ambient video lighting will be provided in the form of a video loop by the internationally acclaimed VJ CHIKA. Experimedia Records has generously agreed to release multiple out takes from this concert on its Internet label under a free Creative Commons license.

Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep will be nine hours of uninterrupted music beginning at 10:00 pm on Saturday April 11th and endingat 7:00 am on Sunday April 12th at Antenna Gallery . Tickets to
the evening event will be $15 and will include a light breakfast at waking time. During the day of April 11th Antenna Gallery will be opening the space to allow people who do not wish to sleep through the night to hear the original submissions from the international community of artists. We are asking $5 per hour toexperience the meditative environment of the sleep space and $3 per half an hour from noon to 9:00 pm on Saturday April 11th.

At 6 pm we will also be participating in the St Claude Gallery Opening that falls on the second Saturday of each month. All proceeds will benefit Antenna Gallery. Please visit tannermenard. archaichorizon.com to follow the event as it unfolds.

CURATOR AND SOUND ARTIST

Tanner Menard was born on September 20th, 1978 the same month that Brian Eno published his essay entitled ‘Ambient Music’. Cosmically connected to this conceptual shift in musical consciousness, Menard’s music has always soared over minimalist and ambient landscapes. At the age of 11 Menard composed his first works for piano and quickly established a reputation as a composer of minimalist music for orchestral forces. His work joe’s last mix’ has been performed around the globe at a number
of distinguished festivals and was released in 2003 on Kafua Records in Japan. In 2002 his sonic world was shaken by his experience working with Naut Human, the well known Curator and label owner at Recombinant Media Labs in San Francisco. There he discovered the world of ambient and experimental electronic music. In 2005 he served as an artist in residence at Arizona State University where he collaborated with Jeph Jerman, Gary Hill and Daniel Bernard Romain for his installation ‘envyronie’ which
combined orchestra, live electronics and desert recordings. His collaboration with Jerman inspired a series of environmentally based works and has subsequently marked the departure from
his classical and experimental backgrounds in favor of a world of ambient landscapes and piano inspired sound meditations. Menard’s music is released on Install Records, Archaic Horizon net
label, Friendly Virus net label, Kafua Records and Experimedia (tbr) and his orchestral music has been published by Loose Filter Music. His music has also appeared on the radio, on tv, in plays,
art galleries and major concert halls across the world and his blog ‘Tanner Menard’ is rapidly gaining international notoriety for such collaborations as Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep and reviews and
interviews with an international pool of artists and label owners.

SUBMISSIONS

Tanner Menard and Experimedia Records have assembled a roster of nearly seventy artists from around the globe including radio scientists, geologists, psychologists, sound artists, musicians, composers, installation artists as well as several well known figures in the ambient music scene. These artists submitted material for Menard to remix during the course of Sommeil: A Concert for Sleep.

Submissions include drones, found sound, recordings of natural and unnatural environments and synthetic music created on synthesizers and computers. A complete list of artists will be available
at the concert and will later be published on Tanner Menard’s blog. Select works, remixed by Menard will appear on a release on Experimedia Records in the months following the event.

VIDEO ARTIST

CHiKA is a graphic designer and a live computer visuals artist working within New York’s expanding cinema community and VJ scene. Her videos implement geometric minimalist patterns and
original graphics in unique, repetitive combinations. She has performed at The Museum of Modern Art, The Hammer Museum, Mutek, The Mapping Festival, Decibel Festival, the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève , Platform Bohenstrasses, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Asia Contemporary Week, San Francisco
Art Institute, Eyebeam, Monkeytown, The Issue Project, Galapagos Art Space, Tonic, Eyewash as well as private parties, festivals, events, galleries and night clubs. Since CHiKA started performing live in the summer of 2004, she has become very active in the experimental music and video underground scene in NYC. She is a member of the Share community, which is an organization dedicated to supporting collaboration and knowledge exchange in new media communities. The first SHARE evening happened in New York in 2001. There are now about 20 SHARE communities across the world. She was recently featured on Club Chroma (www.Joost.com), Eyewash 3 DVD by Forward Motion Theater and published in Super 10, Art Book in 2008. CHiKA also collaborates with electronic musicians and DJs on various projects. Log Log on to http://www.imagima.com for more information.

GALLERY

Antenna is operated by the artist-run non-profit collective Press Street who’s mission is to promote art and literature in the community through dynamic projects, collaborations and publications.
Antenna is located at 3161 Burgundy St New Orleans, LA70117 in the Bywater.

LABEL

Experimedia is a record label, arts organization, and online record shop based out of Ohio, United States which is involved in the digital and physical publication, promotion, and distribution of
exploratory music and visual arts. The Experimedia catalog covers a broad stylistic palette of exploratory music including ambient, electronica, electro-acoustic, experimental, dance, sound-art, microsound, glitch, avant-garde, abstract, minimalist, and more.

The Experimedia online mailorder shop has recently expanded to include the availability of releases from other select labels and artists. This is intended to make more conveniently available some
of the worlds most innovative experimental music. By including labels from overseas countries such as Japan, England, Germany, Austria, Australia, and many others we intend to make music from
around the globe and within the United States more readily and conveniently available throughout the world. Experimedia also acts as a community based platform for creative and conceptual media projects based upon collaborative research and project development efforts. The projects.experimedia.net domain
and the Experimedia Projects Wiki have been developed to facilitate the collaborative information gathering and organization for these research efforts. The goal is that the Projects Wiki will
become a large resource of relevant information to the exploratory sound and visual arts community as well as a historical account of the collaborative efforts involved with Experimedia related projects.
If you are an artist interested in contributing research datato our Projects Wiki or would like to initiate and curate a project within our framework please feel free to contact Experimedia.

February 18, 2009April 1, 2010

Review – 10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

Described by the press release as a “compelling meditation on the nature of sound in time”, this work by Canadian France Jobin was conceived by taking into account the “theoretical size of the strings that makes up the universe”. The impression is mainly one of morphing resonance, like someone manoeuvring an equalizer while a sequence of consecutive drones is unfolding. A chain of pretty static visions, some of them in fact engrossing, rarely presenting truly shocking elements yet effective, at least in spurts. Still, the compositional effort doesn’t appear extreme; this will probably determine a filing in the jam-packed folders of “good but not really memorable” near-minimalism, with the exception of “String 6” and “String 7”, whose impressive bottomless rumbles and subsonic purrs are something to be heard. Dulcis in fundo, indeed.

Touching Extremes
Massimo Ricci

Address: http://www.room40.org

February 18, 2009April 1, 2010

Review – 10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Marcus Whale, The Silent Ballet

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

A part of the spat of new releases on Room40 over late 2008 and early 2009, this offering is produced by Montreal-based sound designer France Jobin, best known for her conceptually mind boggling sound experiments as I8U. This latest work, 10-33 cm, focuses on string theory, an attempt to adapt these tenets of quantum physics to a sound context.

Being unfortunately shackled to an intellect utterly bereft of mathematical knowledge, I have no way of interpreting the conceptual basis for the piece, but Jobin’s skill as a sound designer is undeniable. Jobin creates a seven-part, 46 minute long universe of mainly sine-tone based sound worlds that are remarkable in their focus and detail. Each track is assigned a different ‘type’ of string and the disparity between the contents of each section is marked. The most beautiful moments in the work come at the very beginning, where tiny, high frequency sounds move in and out of each other and take on a delicate form. Massive arrays of sounds subsequently provide counterpoint to this initial moment, but ultimately don’t match the atmosphere that it creates.

The most remarkable element of this release is the ability for such intellectual, difficult music to become as evocative, even on an emotional level, as much of 10-33 cm is. A criticism may be, for all of its intricacies, these experiments occasionally lapse into over-repetition, becoming reduced to its subject matter, rather than finding identity through the medium by which the concept is being expressed – sound. However, as a whole, the suite is tight and well constructed, finding moments of great intensity and poise.

Room40 are known for managing the compromise between the intellectual aesthetic of this corner of experimental music and its ability to ascertain a human reaction to it, beyond the arguably dry conceptual origins that often mark the associated releases. I8U is an example of this success; above all, a demonstration of the complexity of Jobin’s craft, an approach to sound design that is difficult to fault, in its strong intent and flawless execution.

-Marcus Whale
Address: http://www.room40.org

February 18, 2009April 1, 2010

Review – 10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Textura

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008
Two “lower-case” recordings by Asher and I8U make natural additions to ROOM40’s discography.

i8u’s 10-33 cm is as resonant as Asher’s Landscape Studies but wholly different in timbre. Inspired by ideas associated with String Theory, Canadian sound artist France Jobin (aka i8u) creates seven crystalline webs of shimmering, glistening tones and textures. Apparently, the measure 10-33 cm represents the theoretical size of the strings that constitute the universe, and, as Jobin explains,”Resonance is the vibrational pattern which determines what kind of particle the string is, and thus the type of particle is the movement of the string and the energy associated with this movement.” Don’t worry: listening to 10-33 cm requires no degree in Physics; one can experience it as pure sound divorced from its theoretical underpinning. Broached on purely sonic terms, the recording offers a wide-ranging series of explorations into microsound textures, rhythms, and tonalities with each of the spatial re-creations pursuing different pathways associated with the originating concept. Comprised of forty-six minutes of reverberant drones, rumbling tones, faint clicks, and softly crackling static, 10-33 cm could just as easily be a Line release as one from ROOM40.
Textura

January 18, 2009April 5, 2010

Vienna 01.18.2009 – Amann Studios

January 18.09

Live recording #100 at Amann Studios in Vienna.

This performance will include new material based on “und transit”,
a sound installation which was presented in Krems this past month
at Kreuzgang / Minoritenkloster

Sunday, Jan.18.09 – 21:00

Amann Studio
Neustiftgasse 68/23b
A-1070Wien

see below for info on installation

und transit (english below)

Eine Klanginstallation von i8u (France Jobin)

15.12.2008 – 16.01.2009 tägl ab 11 Uhr

Kreuzgang / Minoritenkloster

Wir alle besitzen die Angewohnheit, den Raum der unseren Weg zu unserem Ziel umgibt zu ignorieren. Wie viele Durchgänge scheinen sie zu einem Ende zu führen, in Wirklichkeit aber sind sie das Ende selber. Als ich das erste Mal den Kreuzgang betreten habe war ich von der Einsamkeit und der Praktikabilität berührt. Ich habe begonnen, die verschiedensten Klänge in Krems UND Stein aufzunehmen, um daraus Klanglandschaften für die Leere dieses Raumes zu schaffen. So enstand diese Installation „und transit“

klangraum

und transit

A sound installation by i8u (France Jobin)

15.12.2008 – 16.01.2009 from 11am to 5pm

Kreuzgang / Minoritenkloster

We all have a capacity to ignore the space we must use to get to our destination. Like most passage ways, they are a means to an end, and rarely are treated as an end in itself. Upon being introduced to minoritenplatz, I was immediately struck by the loneliness and practicality of this passage way. Since then, I have collected a number of field recordings from in and around Krems, in order to create a series of soundscapes based on the sound of emptiness in this space.

I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts

December 31, 2008April 1, 2010

Review – 10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Guillermo Escudero, loop

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

La artista sonora de Montreal France Jobin explora en “10-33 cm” la Teoría de las Cuerdas como primera fuente sonora. Esto trata del “patrón de vibración que define el tipo de partes que compone la cuerda es y de esta forma el tipo de parte que es el movimiento de la cuerda y la energía asociada con dicho movimiento”, en palabras de esta artista.
La música está en la frontera entre el silencio, zumbido y las partes granulares del sonido. Ciertos pasajes suenan como improvisaciones con una diminuta percusión a través de errores de lectura digital, pero la mayor parte del disco son drones con emergentes sutiles melodías.

-Guillermo Escudero

loop

Montreal’s based sound artist France Jobin explores on “10-33 cm” the String Theory as the primary source material. This deals with a “vibration pattern which defines what kind of particle the string is, and thus the type of particle is the movement of the string and the energy associated with this movement”, in her words.
The music blurs the border between silence, hum, and grainy particles of sound. Certain passages sound like improvisations with a diminutive percussion through glitches, but most of the disc are drones with emerging subtle melodies.

-Guillermo Escudero

Address: http://www.room40.org

December 31, 2008April 1, 2010

Review -10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by BGN, WHITE LINE UK

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

Another conceptually provocative piece from Canada’s France Jobin, operating under the name “i8u”. “10.33cm” purports to be directly influenced by String Theory, a kind of Music of the Spheres for the New Age, directly associated with the relative sound frequencies of the strings that make up the physical universe. Although largely unproven, and still theoretical, the concept of String Theory has captivated the minds and imaginations of many creative types, and here, Jobin tests the theory in sound.

What materializes is a complex and densely worked set of 7 pieces, named String 1, String 2, String 3, etc. each piece corresponding to a set of parameters initiated by the artist, relating to each string type. From this somewhat ambitious point of departure, we are treated to a rangy set of works that encompass everything from the shimmering tonalities of the opening piece,(that opens with a blister of static, the sonic equivalent of the background radiation of the universe) to the glistening, expansive ambiences as exemplified on String 3, and the more sharply focussed elements of String 2 and String 6, where Jobin systematically takes the listener on a series of sonically intriguing transitions and deformations, taking in the lower end of the auditory spectrum, with rich, reverberant cascades of sound. As an attempt at realising a theoretical concept , then perhaps 10.33cm is still in the elementary stages, but with all of the theoretical gesturing aside, this is a masterfully wrought set of minimalist ambiences, deep in scope, and ambitious in its execution, a technically perfect series that you (like myself) will return to again and again. Excellent.

-BGN.

Address: http://www.room40.org

December 31, 2008June 28, 2010

Review -10-33cm (ROOM40) 2008 – by Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly

i8u – 10^-33cm (MP3 by Room40) 2008

We haven’t heard lately of France Jobin, who works since many years as I8U. The seven tracks on this download only release all deal with the string theory, which is one of those scientific things about the Universe which I never understood – like I never understood Stephen Hawking either, not even his public friendly book about time. Perhaps Jobin does better, and the pieces here are build from sine wave like particles that are being processed in the digital realm. It brings us seven pieces of a highly microsound origin. Buzzing bass sound, high pitched peeping sounds, but never ‘loud’ and certainly never ‘noise’. This is text book microsound material, think Richard Chartier, Bernard Gunter or Roel Meelkop, but I8U certainly a strong voice of her own. Quite modern ambient, and very nice at that.

-(FdW)

Address: http://www.room40.org

December 15, 2008November 5, 2016