I was lucky to be able to pay a visit to Venice  just before the recording tour of  ‘Un Concerto a Venezia’ by Frank Theuns and Les Buffardins. Aim of our visit was also the Biennale, where we entered the French pavilion.

I entered an imaginative recording studio, a beautiful creative ‘cave’ where architecture, sculpture and sound were supposed to contribute to a bigger idea.  My pleasure was complete when I not only found new and modern instruments besides ethnical ones, but also a harpsichord, a baroque flute, dito guitar, and more …

“I imagined an overall environment : an immersive installation that propels visitors to the world of the recording studio and that is inspired by the pioneering work of Kurt Schwitters, the Merzbau (1923 – 1937). Musicians from all backgrounds are invited to bring this recording studio/sculpture to life, as it becomes home to their creations during the seven months of the Biennale. The pavilion merges visual arts and music, with a nod not only to Bauhaus and the experiments of Black Mountain College but also Doug Aitken’s Station to Station.” Xavier Veilhan (the artist who created this walhalla)

contemporary, Venezia

By Axel De Schrijver