Events

Museum Night

11. September 2004, 18:00 - 12. September 2004, 00:00

Julien Maire and Pierre Bastien, who have each invented their own mechanically charming language for their art, come together this evening at the Edith Russ House for Media Art. Through the mechanized projection of the performance Demi-Pas, Julien Maire sets his handmade visual scenes in motion. The music for this work was composed by Pierre Bastien, who will perform two different performances with his mechanical orchestra.

7 p.m.: Julien Maire, Demi-Pas, projection performance
8 pm: Pierre Bastien, Mecanium I
9 pm: Julien Maire, Demi-Pas, projection performance
10 pm: Pierre Bastien, Mecanium II
11 pm: Julien Maire, Demi-Pas, projection-performance

Julien Maire
"Demi-Pas" 20 min.
Projection-Performance

"Demi-Pas" is a short film that works like a kind of projected theater, projected with an "inverted camera": Micro-mechanisms are located directly inside a converted projector, creating an animated image. Through Julien Maire's performance, real objects or photographic material are set in motion inside the projector. The film narrates from the reality of a man's daily routine and at the same time refers to simplicity and complexity of this reality.

Pierre Bastien
A composer's dream: an orchestra at the tip of his fingers, gently executing every command: a timeless-sounding orchestra, futuristic and a little Dadaist at the same time, evoking ancient traditions in its astonishingly sensual music. This, described in just a few words, is Pierre Bastien's "Mecanium" - a kind of daydream he has been pursuing since 1976. The musicians of his orchestra are machines. The idea behind it is simple, effective and poetic. Traditional instruments (Chinese lute, Moroccan bendir, Javanese saron, koto, violin, sanze, etc.) are played by a mechanical instrument made of parts of a Meccano metal kit and reused record player motors. These hybrid and self-playing sound sculptures perform a series of short hypnotic pieces. (Michel F. Côté)


"Julien Maire, born 1969 in Metz (F), studied art in Metz, lives and works in Berlin. Solo exhibitions in France and Germany: Les rencontres internationales de la photographie, Arles; Hull Time Based Art, Hull; Centre National de la Photographie, Paris; International Symposium of Shadow, London. Performances: Site Gallery Sheffield; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Transmediale.01 and .04, Berlin; EMAF 2004, Osnabrück. In 2004 Julien Maire was artist in residence in Berlin (Podewil). His new projection is commissioned by the General Council of Moselle (F) in collaboration with the Saarland Representation in Berlin and the Institute Francais."

"Pierre Bastien, born in Paris in 1953, studied French literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, lives in Rotterdam, and built his first musical machinery in 1977. In the following 10 years he composed for various dance companies and played with Pascal Comelade while continuing to develop his mechanical orchestra. Since 1987, he has focused on working with the mechanical orchestra, presenting it in solo performances, sound installations, recordings and collaborations with artists such as Pierrick Sorin, Karel Doing, Jean Weinfeld, Robert Wyatt or Issey Miyake. Pierre Bastien travels around the world presenting his performances to international audiences."