le refuge des cordes
Installation/performance, 35', 2019-2020
Solo performance with six suspended electric monochords and electronics.
Sound Sculpture: metal, rope, led lights, guitar pickups, piano wire, rocks and wood chips
Work by Charles Quevillon
Photographs by Miikka Pirinen and Maija Tammi
This work aims at metamorphosing the electric guitar into a sacred space. It is a room-sized interactive sonic sculpture (4 meters tall and 2 meters in circumference). 6 custom-made electric monochords are suspended around a thick Tarzan rope. 6 heavy rocks are suspended under the monochords creating the tension in the strings. A layer of wood chips covers the floor beneath the stones. Above each string is a small halo of 16 LED’s and a hexagonal structure hovers above the whole room.
Audience members are invited to pluck the strings using their hands, guitar picks or feathers. The low sounds of the strings resonate through the surrounding sound system. Audience can also climb the rope and play the strings from it. Climbing the rope also triggers light and sound sequences when plucking the strings. During the 35 minutes performance, an audience between 1 and 20 people can sit around the sculpture and watch a performer executing a series of actions involving the sculpture.
Premiered at the gallery Forum Box, Helsinki (FI) during Immortal’s Birthday, an exhibition created in collaboration with Finnish visual artist and researcher Maija Tammi (17.6-12.7. 2020). The work was performed every day for 26 days.
This is the first artwork of my doctoral studies at Uniarts Helsinki.
More information about this project can be found in an exposition on the research catalogue platform.
