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20syl

A graduate from L’Ecole des Beaux­ Arts de Nantes (School of Fine Arts), 20syl has crafted a unique universe since the early 90’s by blending organic textures with digital rhythmics. This magic formula made the band Hocus Pocus (founded in 1995) successful. As the mastermind behind the machines and also as the frontman, he carried out all five albums of the group, including Place 54 which stood out by being awarded a gold record. At the same time, he shines with C2C, winning 5 world turntablism championships and democratizing the genre with the album Tetra in 2012.

A huge hit, the record is rewarded with 4 Victoires de la musique (the french Grammys) and goes double platinum. Aside from public recognition, 20syl pursues his career on his own as an MC with leading underground artists like Grems, Raashan Ahmad or Blitz the Ambassador. Yet, it is as a producer that he proves to be most prolific, becoming world famous thanks to many remixes (Marvin Gaye, Cesaria Evora, Damon Albarn or Schoolboy Q) and especially with the much anticipated release of his first solo EP Motifs in 2014.

Co­founder of On and On Records, 20syl has succeeded in appealing to the world audience thanks to a sharp musical identity, far from the trends and off the beaten tracks. This made him a major character of the contemporary music scene. On top of his unique musical production including many collaborations with other artists, he also remarkably takes part in the visuals and directs videos as the all­round artist he is.

    

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the-project

THE PROJECT

S kateboard culture and electronic music, those are the two main components of 20syl’s artistic construction. He has practiced these disciplines for twenty years or so and has never stopped building bridges between them. Today, along with La Région des Pays de la Loire and les salles de musiques actuelles (places dedicated to modern music­ VIP, Stereolux, Chabada, Fuzz’Yon, 6par4, Oasis), he presents a project which could be the achievement of this crossbreed: a Sound Ramp, a “U” turned into a sensitive and visual surface allowing the skater to perform music that the artist has composed.

Like with C2C vinyls, rotation is at he core of the process. Repetitive movement and kinetics are determined by the object: the physical curve becomes the musical loop. The skater is the musician and the ramp is the instrument. He composes and decomposes the rhythm, he breaks down initial binary arrangements, making the digital human again for a moment. The ramp is a sound device and also a visual one. In order to highlight the interaction between movement and sound, animated graphic pictograms are projected on the surface, allowing to materialize the (inter)active zones.

The musician’s movement has never been so wide, flexible, even rough sometimes. In association with Belgian developers and musicians Herrmutt Lobby, visual artist Guillaume Batista, Aurélien Lafargue (video mapping) and Gilles Fernandez (Kinect technology), 20syl has developed a unique device through which he explores the relation between the “sport” movement and the repetitive movement of electronic music.

The installation works on the basis of an iOS application developed by the group of artists Herrmutt Lobby. “Playground” presents a new way of considering the performance of electronic music. It is a multitouch interface which is playful, evolutive and organic. By transposing the touch surface of the screen on the ramp, the movement is enhanced. The visual interface is “mapped” on the volume of the two curves thanks to video projectors and the movements are sensed by 3D Kinect cameras.

 

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team

TEAM

herrmutt-lobby

HERRMUTT LOBBY

Developers

F ounded in 2003, Herrmutt Lobby is a group of electronic musicians, programmers and handymen. Since 1997, the members of the group have achieved many projects on different labels (DUB, Studio !K7, Vlek, Eat Concrete, Thin consolation, Detroit Underground, Catune, Error Broadcast…).

Their main goal is to develop at the same time software and hardware material that are dedicated to live performance. Their tools are meant to play electronic music in real time thanks to physical movement. Their expertise in this field has widely been acclaimed by the music community. Their “BeatFader” software is recommended by the Ableton Sound Designer Team and “Sound & Recording” in Japan.

In 2012, they released an iOS application called Beatsurfing which is a MIDI controller for iPad based on the same concept. Beatsurfing has already caught attention and has received very positive critics from TheNextWeb, XLR8R, VICE/Motherboard, FATSCO, it has also been highlighted by the Apple Store.

They are currently developing an iOS platform called Playground which will allow music lovers to perform music by recognized artists from the international electronic scene thanks to an interactive multitouch interface. A playful, organic and evolutive one. This groundbreaking platform is made to share the pleasure of real time music expression with as many people as possible.

guillaume-batista-pina

Guillaume Batista Pina

Design and mediating.

H e was born in 1980 in Pau, France. He’s a graduate from L’Ecole des Beaux Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Nantes and also from the University of Angers with a Master (Digital Technologies and Promotion of Cultural Products) in 2007. He has worked with several artists for the last few years. His universe is shaped through creation or recycling of broken, thrown away objects he finds. The idea of DIY, of a “remix culture” springs from those findings. Working with what is available, wastes of consumerism. Manipulating, deconstructing, cutting, welding, wiring… Using all that can transmit analog or digital magnitude through touch in order to create new instruments. Buttons, potentiometers, levers, pressure sensors… Those are home­made tools for selecting, cutting, mounting and manipulating image and sound streams.

The “remix” culture embraces recycling and nomadism, it is a culture of intervention and reinvention. In the end, the result is less important than the process. The event lasts for the time of the performance, but also for the time of its implementation. The art works remain open, introducing sense in the cacophony of the world thanks to home­made assemblies which are often ephemeral and always subject to transformation and always likely to be reorganized.


aurelien-lafargue

Aurélien Lafargue

Digital designer & video artist.

H e started his career as a photographer. Soon, he is attracted to image in motion and he experiments a broad scope of media like video creation, motion design, programming, space design. Then he naturally comes to digital arts. His artistic installations combine visual work, scenography and new technologies. His artistic approach is centered on the relation between man and imagination. He focuses on the immersion of the audience within his digital creations. A music lover, he has built stage sets and created visual works for artists like Fraction, Max Cooper, Rodriguez JR, Blockhead, DJ Craze, Afrika Bambaataa, The Freestylers, Netik, DJ Trouble, Toxic Avenger, Arnaud Rebotini, DJ Mini, Mateo Murphy, Brondinski & Gesaffelstein, Gramatik, Umek…

Today, his expertise leads him to collaborations with the S.A.T (Société des Arts Technologiques à Montréal / Montreal Society for Arts and Technology), the Scopitone festival, the A­part contemporary art festival, l’Olympia, Echonova, l’institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute), Stereolux…

gilles-fernandez

Gilles Fernandez

Kinect-­Programing.

B orn to musician parents, he is naturally contaminated by the family passion at a young age. A genuine geek, he graduated from the Haute Ecole de la Province de Liège as a software developer. His final school work deals with the man­machine interactions and especially with the natural users interfaces (NUI) where the apparatus are transparent, invisible, unnoticeable. Unlike before, it is the role of the machine to understand human beings. Since then, he has developed a passion for this type of interactions and all the inventive potential they generate. Wether it is with creative projects or with more industrial ones, he can never get away from 3D sensors allowing the machines to understand, act or interact with their environment. The newest technologies have us reconsider our way of thinking and communicating with the machines. His passion leads him to turn the needs of designers, architects, doctors, artists into functional final products…

dates

DATES


october 29th to november 1st 2015


november 4th to 7th 2015


december 1st to 5th 2015


december 12th to 20th 2015


january 11th to 16th 2016


january 19th to 23rd 2016

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partners

contacts

Contacts

Région des Pays de la Loire :

Nadia Hamnache
nadia.hamnache@paysdelaloire.fr

Stereolux :

Remi Bascour
remi.bascour@stereolux.org

On And On Records :

Yann Nédélec
yann@onandon-records.com

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