ARTSY
CURADOR: LIONEL BOCIER & CHRISTIAN MARCLAY
The word “studio,” in English and Italian, refers to a space where both artists and musicians make work. This synchronicity, along with historic multidisciplinary art schools like the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, serves as inspiration for Xavier Veilhan’s installation, which is also a working recording studio.
On Tuesday, one musician was playing a rare instrument, a Cristal Baschet, amongst wandering visitors. As he stroked its crystal tines with water, the tones that resulted (which, charmingly, resemble the sounds created by rubbing a finger around the edge of a wine glass) were being recorded in a studio on the side of the space. Sound engineers gave the thumbs up from behind a glass wall.
Over the course of the installation, a roster of some 60 musicians will play and record in the stunning, soundproofed space, which is covered in both real and sculptural instruments. Veilhan’s intention isn’t to present a polished performance, a finished product, or, like most pavilions, a magnum opus by a single artist. Instead, he wants the space to be an active site of creation and collaboration where process is laid bare. He succeeds.
JULA 