en masse
We were in the bush, by the sea, when the first germs of en masse were conceived.
Experiences and ideas of nature have remained central to it.
We wanted to make a world that would hold you, yet one that also gives you space.
The music was born of a series of improvisations, caught one day in a studio. Six sound artists responded to these sounds, creating enough material for a lifetime’s worth of pieces. Lawrence and I (Genevieve) remixed a work from this vast sound catalogue: the electroacoustic track that
plays in duo with the footage.
The sounds that you hear are new. They come originally from simple wooden pipes. When I play live with these computer-altered sounds, you hear both the transformation and the source. My voice is a way of making the electroacoustic world human again.
When I make music, I feel as though I enter another element. I close my eyes, listen, breathe and play and find myself in a world that is not the same as my daily reality. There is something particularly beautiful about this experience of diving into sound, following its tides. I wanted you to have the chance to access this intensely heightened, tranquil state, to feel wrapped in sound and movement.
I (Marc) wanted to create something that alludes to the themes of my past work (the impact of globalisation, individualism, consumerism), without overtly dealing with them. I was also considering how people find peace in a world of apparent chaos. Without answering this specifically, the behaviour of the birds hints at solutions.
The shots have been held for a long time to allow you to lose yourself in the image. It’s the antithesis of editing for TV and film, where the cuts tell the story. The lack of cuts in this piece redefines the relationship between the viewer and the image allowing, I think, for much more reflection. The images were shot over a period of two weeks, at sunrise and sunset, in two different locations. A lot of time has gone into grading the footage so it looks and feels as one, so that it flows.
The space itself is as important as the sound and image. We wanted it to be comfortable rather than rigid, we wanted it to be at odds with the world outside. The piece is the space, the sound, the image, all the collaborators and you, working en masse.
Warmest thanks to those who have made this piece with us, and who are now a part of it – Steven, Deanna, Lawrence, Ben, Ben II, Michael, James, Jess, Andrew, Jim, Pete, John, Christian, Gregor, Steve, Nico, Ben III, Taylor, Paula, Martel, Kate, Anna, Helen, Paul II.
Genevieve and Marc
en masse [pdf]