Cheering citizens
will believe the machine !

improvised kinetic music

« Cheering citizens will believe the Machine » is an experimental, noisy/ambiant improvised music set, based on a dialogue between several autonomous DIY kinetic sculptures, a harp excited by a speaker, and an analog synth.
Valentin Durif has been interested for some time now in the relationships between physical, mechanical and acoustic phenomenons, perception of sound in space, and hijacking of everyday objects for a musical purpose. It started with basic predictable percussions, and moved on to a little more evolved « kinetic sculptures », with both a sound and visual aspect to it. There was no carefully planned 3D printed schematics here, just « junk » objects (mostly metal, cans, potato mashers…), mashed together by trial and error, with pieces of wood, a few screws, and different kinds of arduino/software controlled motors.
What is seeked here are the aesthetic of the movement in relation to sound production and the hypnotic contemplation it provides; the touching fragility and imperfections of the machines turned into musical instruments, and also how a predictable stereotypical mechanical movement can yield rich and unpredictables patterns (for example as an iron strings will take a slightly different course each time the motor makes a revolution).

The sound is picked up with piezo mikes and goes through effects, to become either impressionists landscapes or give a very raw edge to the sound matter. This semi-autonomous ensemble, in this context remotely controlled through different knobs, is complemented with a small harp of which strings are excited by a small vibrating speaker played live, giving the musician a direct contact with sound matter, so as to mix a spontaneous and organic musical gesture with the dysfunctional mechanical orchestra. The whole performance is completely unstructured and improvised, giving to each performance a different perspective and creating a full involvement for the musician.

passed gigs: "Selluloid Restaurant", ephemeral architectural construction, Décines, octobre 2015 - Festival ISI, Montpellier, Septembre 2017 - "device_art"; Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb / MOCA Rijeka, janvier 2019