One has to listen to the immensely remote in order to better perceive the infinitely close.

The telescopic arms of the apparatus stretch towards the sky, lifting the dishes up to their listening position. The receiving surface of the antennae is lit by a nacre glow and at their centre a bright strobe signals their activity. They seem to pick up the sound of the stars, which they then broadcast back down to Earth, from a sound system featured at their extremity.

When, finally fulfilled in their quest for celestial elation, they decide to look down towards the Earth, the telescopic arms withdraw, the dishes bow down towards the vide-projectors’ axis, and the audience, standing up within the elliptic setting thus created, become receivers.

A monumental urban installation, "Paraboles" was first and foremost conceived as an artistic "container" which could integrate various artistic proposals by multimedia artists. The first occurence was "Paraboles 1.0" in 2007, created for the Nuit Blanche in Paris, and based on a musical and visual creation by contemporary composer Julien Taride and soprano Anne Rodier. "Paraboles 2.0" was then born in Singapore for the Night Festival in July 2010, with an original video work by Vitric Thng, conceived in close collaboration with the French team. Other creations are under way with the purpose of an on-site artistic fusion. Thus each performance of Paraboles can potentially become a creation in and of itself, as Paraboles 3.0, 4.0, etc.  

Paraboles 1.0 : Piece for a Soprano and a Video installation

First original creation specifically conceived for the Paraboles, this piece for soprano and video installation was previewed in 2007 for the Aurillac International Festival, before the premiere in Paris within the Nuit Blanche.

Built around the musical and video work of contemporary composer Julien Tarride, and the vocal interpretation of Anne Rodier, the piece explored the infinite cloning of a soprano in search of her own identities.

POZNAN MALTA FESTIVAL ● FESTVAL DE LAS ARTES DE CASTILLA Y LEON DE SALAMANCA ● NUIT BLANCHE A PARIS ● FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL ECLAT D’AURILLAC ● EXTRASCHICHT, NIGHT OF INDUSTRY & CULTURE DORTMUND ● AUGSBURG GASKESSELTREIBEN FESTIVAL ● GRAZ STRADA FESTIVAL ● LA NOVELA, FESTIVAL ART & SCIENCE TOULOUSE

Paraboles 2.0 : 27mn before the Big Bang

Video Creation : Victric Thng (Singapore)

Swirling with graphic tricks, hypnosis and kaleidoscopes, the Paraboles are transformed into microscopes, revealing the universe in utero, or into telescopes gazing at the most remote galaxies, always in a state of alert, searching…

Psychedelic, colourful, sometimes playful, sometimes ominous, these visions of a Universe under construction summon an abstract Conscience in the middle of some creative frenzy, carried away and snatching the actors and the audience along with it inside a no-return whirlwind.

Choreoraphic Performance  (Cécilia Ribault)

As the human incarnation of the piece, Cécilia Ribault dances, sings and acts. A performer first and foremost, she first appears as an anonymous girl, an everyday silhouette snatched into this fantastic machinery.

Confronted, chosen, directed, manipulated, she wavers between self-affirmation and self-dissolution, between the joyful pleasure of a kid at the fairground and the femme fatale struggling to keep some control in the face of the cosmic vortex that threatens to absorb her.

Victim or investigator, she will eventually- through her own manic particle-like rotation – manage to accelerate matter up to the Big Bang. Triggering element or alien body, she is the hand stretched towards the audience, the one through which questions are asked, and maybe, answered…

Musical Performance  (Angélique Cormier & le Tours Soundpainting Orchestra)

In Paraboles 2.0, Soundpainting is used as primary musical substance, composed live depending on the images projected onto the Paraboles, and perceived by the Conductor.

Mysterious abstract waves run from one of the six sound canals to the other, particles of music bump into each other in zero gravity, sometimes uniting to create a melody, first sketched, then burst apart, and finally met in precise unison. Fluctuating but never blurry, the musical score is composed and decomposed, rising steadily up, in harmony or in conflict with the ever-looming Big Bang…

Between written musical themes and complete improvisation, the score is written for and on location. Ever changing, it is however always “framed” within a definite timeline and rhythm.

  2010 cretion in collaboration with the Museum of Singapore Night Festival.

CREATION

2006: First CONCERT OF PARABOLES for « Désert de Piste » in Villeurbanne, Les Invites Festival

2007 > 2009: PARABOLES 1.0 on tour accross Europe


2010: Creation of PARABOLES 2.0 in Singapore for the National Museum Night Festival.

Nature: Urban scenographic installation and multimedia performance (video, live music and dance)

Stage 1: The Installation
Continuous, before and in between performances.
The telescopic arms of the apparatus stretch towards the sky, lifting the dishes up to their listening position. The receiving surface of the antennae is lit by a nacre glow and at their centre a bright strobe signals their activity. They seem to pick up the sound of the stars, which they then broadcast back down to Earth, from a sound system featured at their extremity.

Stage 2: The Performance

By night, 1 to 4 performances per day.
When, finally fulfilled in their quest for celestial elation, they decide to look down towards the Earth, the telescopic arms withdraw, the dishes bow down towards the vide-projectors’ axis, and the audience, standing up within the elliptic setting thus created, become receivers.

Paraboles 2.0 offers a possible artistic collaboration with a video artist in every location visited. Depending on the performing context, an original video creation can be foreseen with a local artist, while the music and general direction will be adapted accordingly.

Audience capacity: 1000 to 10000



Location: Stationary (public square, industrial area, atypical urban site…)

Team: 21 to 25

Philippe Freslon: Concept, stage direction & design

Cécilia Ribault: Vocal and choreographic performance

Victric Thng: Video creation

Tours Soundpainting Orchestra:

Angélique Cormier: Conductor & composer

Madeline Ardouin: Violin

Dominique Chanteloup: Drums

Gaëtan Coutable: Violin

Thomas Lesigne: Double-bass

Juliette Rillard: Keyboards, samplers

Sylvain Roudier: Saxophone

Sylvestre Perrusson: Sound

Erwan Quintin: Sound

Vaïssa Favereau: Costumes

Aurélien Trillot: Video

Jérôme Hervé Peloille: Lights

Gilles Bara: Special effects & mobile lights

Damien Blanchet: Technical manager & mobile lights

Laurent Richefort, Guillaume Desnoulet & Mohamed Mizane: Sets & Paraboles pilots

PARABOLES 2.0 : Dossier de Presse 

PDF Document, 2010 (French)

"An aerial - possibly interstellar - wonder, rigorously fantastic. Literally outstanding." 
Rue89

" A mechanical fantasy of enchantes Paraboles. A monumental, fascinating space opera: the audience, captivated, intensely listens and watches. A true creation. "
La Dépêche du Midi

"A finale filled with the music of the stars, brought to the very heart of Salamanca by Companie Off. Visually stunning, musically intriguing: a grand avant-garde show..."
La Tribuna

"Compagnie Off provided the festival with a huge, colossal finale, and impressed the audience into an ovation, for what was considered the most ambitious street installation of the whole festival. "
El Adelanto

"The sight intrigues and forces the audience into observation, transporting them into another world. It is a little bit terrifying, but most of all it is huge and extraordinary.. "
Tutej