Electromagnetic Fields in Concrete 60x60x20 is a sound piece that recreates the activity of the ARCOOP building through an electromagnetic exploration of its spaces retranscribed in the acoustic field.

The composition was entirely created using sound captures of electromagnetic fields generated by the electrical system, by machines and by technical objects used by the craftsmen, as well as using certain hertzian signals from outside the building and passing through it.

Electromagnetic Fields in Concrete 60x60x20 explores the sonic potential of electromagnetic waves, which here constitute a landscape largely dominated by the 50 Hz of the electric current, but in which a multitude of punctual, repetitive, cyclical or drone-like events occur, creating just as many motifs, textures and layers to be exploited.

The piece is based on the singular architecture of the industrial building, built by the Honegger brothers, with its “HA system” box slabs and reinforced concrete framework. The sound composition is thus directly inspired by the repetitive nature of the caissons left exposed on the underside of the slabs, the modules that make up the workshops, the claustras of the stairwells and the long horizontal bands of the passageways and façade.

Through Electromagnetic Fields in Concrete 60x60x20, we rediscover the building in a hertzian dimension that is usually imperceptible, and experience the invisible activity of this industrial space.

About the concert
“Waves was commissioned from multi-disciplinary artist Salômé Guillemin and fellow artist and interaction designer Félicien Goguey. In the form of a carte blanche, Ensemble Vide invited them to take over the Arcoop building and invest the immense space of this industrial site. Using the archives of this distinctive architecture, concealed contact microphones and various neon tube light sources, they produce a variety of sounds transformed in real time. The physical qualities of the various elements create magnetic fields that are propelled into an acoustic field. Archival material is integrated into the creative process to explore its content and create new possibilities. With this project, halfway between a sound installation, a sound and light show and a visual art performance, the artists propose an immersion in a sound space as strange as it is bewitching. The Arcoop building, an industrial liner built by the Honegger brothers, is the perfect setting for a large-scale deployment of the music produced, for a show created by and for the place.”