Mars Song Libretto

Performance at Haus am Lützowplatz, Photo: Billy Clarken

Mars Song Libretto is a small publication that accompanies the performance Mars Song.

The imaginary field recording coming from the speakers reproduces a windy atmosphere. The sound is based on algorithms derived from the weather model by Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL Mars Climate Database. From the wind emerges a genderless voice, describing an imaginary stay on the planet.

Live, a mezzosopranist and a synth interact and dialogue with each other based on a canonic exercise by Augustin Maurs: the singer should reproduce three times, as accurately as she can, the sounds and pauses emitted by the synth. However, as the synth player plays more sounds than she could actually remember, this creates a composition based on human error, or imagination.

Mars is our planet of imagination. What we don’t seem feasible on earth we often project into a fictional narrative involving our fellow neighbour Mars. Throughout recent history we created maps, calendars, collected pictures or weather data of this planet. One could assume we seem to know it quite well. Just that we still don’t really know - what does it sound like on mars?

Notes for a travelogue (EXP:)

Published on the occasion of the performance «EXP: j’amairais commencer par sauter» the postcard is always available when the performance is shown.

System Sin1.0

System Sin 1.0 is a sci-fi time system developed by the artist. Published on the occasion of the sound installation «Time Piece (Additive Synthesis Bell)» the book includes the mathematical explanation of the time system, along with its graphical representation. Additionally it features an essay by author Elvia Wilk.

With its unusual hours and distorted durations, the system depict how malleable the measurement of time can be. By challenging the universal acceptance of UTC, it emphasises the human capacity to stretch and shrink experiences of duration and the effect of perception on time.

35°60’S, 150°38’ W

Time Piece (The Mysterious Island), a public installation, Time Piece (UTC -10h), a mechanical bell, and the publication 35°60’S, 150°38’W are three works that relocate to Locarno the passing of time on Ernest-Legouvé Reef. Discovered in the beginning of the 20th century, near the location of the fictitious Lincoln island of Jules Verne’s book ‘The Mysterious Island’, the reef has since been reported in many atlases, even though it doesn’t appear to exist anymore. Time Piece (The Mysterious Island) is a night sundial that shows the time with a beam of light, representing the shadow that a vertical sundial would produce on the island. Light becomes the shadow of a neverland. Time Piece (UTC -10h) strikes every full hour with the time in the mysterious island’s time zone. Printed on the postcard 35°60’S, 150°38’W and on the wall is the satellite image of the location where the island should be found.