Listening Gallery: listening in surround sound — Lausanne
Everything is in its plastic bag; piled up between two synthetic membranes, the furrows have already found their order of appearance. A few striped, white and blue canvas chairs have been installed. For the rest: two trestles, a board, some electronics, the minimum necessary. The entrance door hasn’t been oiled: it complains for a long moment, screeches and creaks before returning to its point of departure, some 12 seconds after you open it.
You’re late – a little. You’re well aware of it, you’ve already heard the music from the street. You go inside, discover the décor; the door complains for a long moment, screeches and creaks behind you and your glance sweeps across the room. The white and blue canvas chairs: all taken. Evidence, most likely, that people are happy here. They are calmly attentive, eyes closed, eyes looking into space, eyes for ears… another sign of well-being.
You have to find somewhere to sit: there’s a carpet, but you think it’s an artwork. You use sign language: it’s OK. You sit down, then lie back. You’ve found your small place of tranquillity, your small calm space for listening. Someone brings a list of the works, and you guess where you are thanks to Patti Smith’s voice, a work for piano, or the blues of James Brown. And then you lose yourself in your thought, Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect. Your thoughts disperse and you regain consciousness between works, taking advantage of it to have a look at the video on your right, the sculpture on your left. At the next piece, it’s decided: you’ll turn around and look a bit longer at the painting at the end of the room.
The last piece comes to an end: you can tell from the smile of Francis Baudevin in the corner, who delicately lifts the needle from the groove.
It occurs to you that you’ve seldom had the opportunity to listen like that; to really listen; just to listen.
The 1m3 Gallery in Lausanne offers listening sessions as part of its exhibitions, approximately once a month. It’s the responsibility of the artist Francis Baudevin to select some pearls from a collection which he has put together over, let’s say, 30 years.
Podcasts of previous sessions are available on the gallery’s website
www.galerie1m3.com/podcast.html
1M3
Av. de la Harpe 45
CH - 1007 Lausanne
Ve-Sa: 14-19.00 + sur RV
T. +41(0)77 43 777 45
http://www.galerie1m3.com
DATÉ is a non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
All the published writings are under the Creative Commons "BY-SA" licence.