To celebrate its active participation in the project combining creation and training of the Hautrage convent, Transcultures, Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital and Sound Cultures, invites you, in different spaces of the convent, to a multiple event.
In a friendly atmosphere and a transversal approach dear to Transcultures since its origins (1996), it is a question of discovering the richness and singularity of the sound, visual and multimedia proposals (mostly creations for this occasion) of artists who have been previously hosted in residence and supported by the Centre.
Program
03 > 30.06.2024 (12 > 17:00) – Exhibitions + videos (Natan Kaczmar introducting Vidéocollectifs, Rafael A propos de Marie G)
Friday 03.05
- 18.00 Opening of digital/sound/photo/video exhibitions
- Ce que j’ai exhumé (Fred Chemama)
- Phonons & Photons (Alain Wergifosse)
- + Tommy Lawson – Apéro Mix (aperitif offered)
- 20.00 Performance
- Fred Chemama (video, light) + Alain Wergifosse (live soundtrack) : Présence et fantasmagorie
Saturday 04.05
- 12.00 > 17.00 Exhibitions + videos
- 14.00 > 17.00 Workshop Isa*Belle Body & Sound + Open Transonic studio + Tommy Lawson – Apéro Mix (aperitif offered)
Sunday 05.05
- 14.00 > 17.00 Exhibitions + Open Transonic studio
- 16.00 Sonopoetic performances
- Eric Therer/Quelques piétons : Fragments d’un carnet conventuel
- Christian Leroy (piano, synthé) + Paradise Now (voix, électronique, guitare) + guests Isa*Belle (bols chantants), Mira (lumière) : Dada Sonopoetics
- Quelques piétons – DJ mix
Saturday 11.05
- 12.00 > 19.00 Exhibitions + videos + Transonic open studio
- 19.00 Meeting with the artists Fred Chemama & Alain Wergifosse (modérateur : Philippe Franck) + aperitif offered
- 20.00 Concerts
- Alain Wergifosse Organa Mantra (organ, electronic)
- Performance Fred Chemama with Alain Wergifosse Foz Machine
Exhibitions
Phonons & Photons - Alain Wergifosse (Be)
Photo/video/participative installation exhibition
In two corridors of the convent ambulatory, visual works by Alain Wergifosse are offered, including photos from the “Spectres & Neons” series taken in long exposure during walks in the depths of spectral neon nights, taken between 2004 and 2024,
This series is part of the concept of “retinal music” explored by the artist. Light modulates the gaze, just as the needle of a record player vibrating in the groove of a vinyl record transmits sound images to the ear; here the moving light transmits sound sensations through the eyes thanks to a little synesthetic imagination, in total silence.
These photographs, which are the size of a vinyl album cover, are supplemented by a few videos taken from the series Erosions & Microscopies, Flux & Densités that he produced in recent years, and more recently from the Materia project, as well as the participatory installation Resonant Table presented in the Transonic Lab.
Underlying these works, as sensorial as they are experimental, is a passion for feedback in different devices and the interaction between elements, the organic matter of sound, image and light.
Production : Transcultures
Alain Wergifosse
Belgian video artist and experimental musician having resided in Barcelona for 30 years, Alain Wergifosse has participated in countless sound projects solo and with groups such as Obmuz, Macromassa and Specop (in Spain).
For 10 years, he created interactive sounds and music for Marcel.lí Antúnez (founder of La Fura dels Baus). He co-organized the LEM and NoNoLogic festivals in Barcelona and published 3 albums: “Deep Gray Organics” in 1999 on the Geometrik label (Es), “Flux & Densités” in 2020 and the CD (+ booklet) “Spectres & Neons ” in 2022, both published by the Transonic (Be) label. In 2010, he composed the music for the film “Petite anatomy of the image” by Olivier Smolders.
He has produced numerous videos and immersive and sound installations regularly supported by Transcultures (and the City Sonic and Transnumériques festivals), the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and also, among others, by/for KIKK, Recyclart (Be), Zone Libre, European Pepinieres of Creation, and Vidéoformes (Fr), as well as concerts and sound and visual experimentation workshops.
Ce que j’ai exhumé + Foz Machine + Gestographe + Eyes well shut - Fred Chemama (Be)
For this visual artist and traveler, the artifacts mixed with plant matter are the resurgences of a fantasized and dreamed future. Born from this dialogue resulting from his carnal and loving relationship with the earth and objects found under the surface of the ground, with these buried dreams, these organic sculptures and installations are made of stones and rusty tools naturally intertwined with roots, or else, found nearby and then assembled.
Fred Chemama also exhibits two installations (the Foz Machine in the chapel and the Gestograph – interactive – in the refectory), selection of photos and texts linked to the notion of “gestography” (creating your own writing with gestures), color portraits of the Eyes well shut series and experimental films.
Production : Transcultures, in partnership with European Pepinieres of Creation, Mira 眯腊
Fred Chemama
“Photographer, videographer, and multimedia artist, Fred Chemama, also known as 眯腊 (mira), is a multidisciplinary artist who studied audiovisual production at ESRA Maroc and photography in France. He currently lives and works between Belgium, France, and his travels that lead him to encounter other artists and cultural institutions across Europe and beyond.
In the final year of his academic journey, he traveled to Mexico to create a series of underwater portraits of fishermen from the state of Oaxaca, using a reportage camera and an original waterproof casing. These portraits are now immersed in luminous casings where they decompose underwater, a process ongoing for several years. Over time, he has undertaken several long-exposure self-portrait projects.
Action, encounters, and a self-reflective approach towards capturing imagery from reality lie at the core of his artistic pursuit. This has led him to occasionally adopt an iconoclastic stance and create transient on-site installations using discarded ink ribbons sourced from souvenir photo booths.
Preconceived actions carried out collectively and the exploration of diverse processes in producing images “drawn from reality” stand as focal points of his initial approach, already casting doubt on the authority of photographic imagery as an informational conduit and instead, transforming it into what he truly feels: a pretext for the poetic gathering of individuals.
Today, 眯腊 continues to engage in experiments at the intersection of photography, video, and digital arts; exploring the realms of the body, light, movement, situation, and place within an approach connected to bodily action.
His recent projects of interactive installations (“cyclo-kino,” the “Gestographer,” the “Fōz machine”…) blend disciplines, mediums, and transcend them into playful and intriguing devices.”
Peformances
Dada Sonopoetics - Christian Leroy + Paradise Now (Fr/Be)
Composer, pianist and accomplished film-concert artist, Christian Leroy, hosted in residence at Septem, invited Paradise Now (the sound, intermedia and collaborative art project of Philippe Franck) for a performance of “comprovisions” mixing digital treatments and acoustic virtuosity, sonic landscapes and poetry that pays homage to the creative and pioneering indisciplinarity of the Dada and Surrealist movements.
Isa*Belle (body artist and sound masseuse) adds to this traveling mix (voice, piano, guitar, electronics) the vibratory touch of her singing bowls and gongs.
Production : Transcultures in partneship with Septem
Apero Mix - Tommy Lawson (Tg/Fr)
In a relaxed and soothing atmosphere, Tommy Lawson (sound artist/designer, director of Festival Zone Libre in Bastia) invites you for a futuristic sound journey between electronica, field recording and minimal dub.
It takes you with a hypnotic mix into a flow of hybrid and evolving soundscapes bathed in atmospheric melodies and deep bass. A fusion of organic and electronic sounds that transport you to a parallel universe where time seems suspended.
Production : Transcultures
Fragments d’un carnet conventuel - Eric Therer/Quelques Piétons (Be)
A poetic performance (premiere) based on the reading of fragments of an imaginary notebook, or rather notebooks, which would have been recorded over time, at different times, and from different perspectives by sisters who lived in the Hautrage convent.
Production : Transcultures
Organa Mantra - Alain Wergifosse
Explorer of granular sound and visual materials, Alain Wergifosse offers, in the premiere, a free improvisation on the organ of the convent chapel moving from contemporary minimalism to baroque reminiscences and some electronic treatments.
Production : Transcultures
Présence et fantasmagorie (Foz Machine) - Fred Chemana
The Foz Machine is a phantasmagorical machine that reveals layers of presences, absences and memories. It’s a dark room and a mirror. The notions of present and past, of here and elsewhere, overlap reciprocally.
The Foz machine is here at the service of an audiovisual performance proposed by Fred Chemama alias Mira 眯腊 and Alain Wergifosse (live soundtrack). They take us on a still, sound and light journey, to meet the ectoplasms and spirits who inhabit the convent chapel.
Production : Transcultures, European Pepinieres of Creation, Mira 眯腊
Meeting - Workshop
Workshop Body & Sound - Isa*Belle
Demonstration and introduction to the use of singing bowls and the sound massage technique in individual sessions of around twelve minutes.
Artist of the body and the senses, Isa*Belle offers sound massages with Tibetan bowls and various small instruments played around and on the body. The bowls are placed on different energy centers/chakras. It’s about feeling the sound on your body and tuning into it…
Booking 0494 33 94 13 – reservation@transcultures.be
Production : Transcultures
Meetings
Alain Wergifosse – Transonic open studio
Sound, visual and multimedia artist Alain Wergifosse partnered with Transcultures to build the “Transonic Lab”, a studio and space allowing different sound and multimedia experiences. For this opening event, he installed his “Resonant Table” (participatory sound instrument) (which is initially part of his recent variable geometry exhibition project MATERIA) and will give mini concerts as an introduction to the creative exploratory possibilities of the “Transonic Lab”.
With the support of Transcultures
Meeting with Fred Chemama et Alain Wergifosse
Presentation of the unique approach of these creators-explorers of image and multimedia recently hosted in residence by Transcultures and also of their first collaboration on the occasion of this event.
Moderation of the debate : Philippe Franck (Transcultures)
Videos
A propos de Marie G - Rafael (Be/Kr)
Premiere of the new video by intermedia artist Rafael living between South Korea and his native Wallonia, hosted by Transcultures in a writing residency last March at the Hautrage convent which greatly inspired him as well as the personality of the last sister – Marie-Guylaine – who lived there until she was 99.
A polyphonic and multicultural dialogue (from Saint-Ghislain to Seoul) to try to re-imagine this singularly present/absent personality.
“Mirror, poetic, historiographical, portrait, voice, dissonance, cultural, temporal, random, digitalization, memory…”
leafar.be
Production : Transcultures, European Pepinieres of Creation, Alea
VIDÉOCOLLECTIFS (sélection Festival Videoformes 2024)
Selection of 3-minute videos (premiered at partner Festival Videoformes, France in March 2024) which offer a look at different cities around the world (from Paris to Seoul via Budapest).
Initiated by the relationist internationalist artist Natan Karczmar (Fr/Il/Ca) in 1984, the Videocollectives produced and broadcast, with the support of Vidéoformes (Fr) and Transcultures, in numerous countries and festivals, constitute living audio-visual testimonies and open to all (professionals and amateurs).
Supported by Videoformes and Transcultures.
videocollectifs.jimdofree.com
Selection
- Patos de Minas | José Vilmar Da Silva | 2023 | Minas Gerais
- Hi Séoul | Gabriel Soucheyre | 2024 | Séoul
- Quando Maria Me Fundou o Carnaval | Gabriel Mascaro | 2013 | Clermont-Ferrand
- ROOTS | Anne-Sophie Emard | 2022 | Kaunas
- CLFD XXIV | mille chevreaux | 2024 | Clermont-Ferrand
- BLUEBAEKDRAGON | Gabriel Soucheyre | 2024 | Séoul
- Turn Around | Justine Emard | 2014 | Sao Paulo
- Gwangju | tilensil | 2020 | Gwangju
- Cycling through Bergen-op-Zoom | Anton Koetsenruijter | 2023 | Bergen-op-Zoom
- Budapest Bufe v1.0 | Ijles Istvan, Jofeju Istvan | 2006 | Budapest
- Bp street | Martin D. Gabor, Zsidmond Bernathy | 2006 | Budapest
- Ekaterinbourg | Gabriel Soucheyre | 2021 | Ekaterinbourg
- Chanonat | Pierre Bouyer | 2024 | Chanonat
- Chanonat 2 | Pierre Bouyer | 2024 | Chanonat
- Memory | Andreas Mitropoulos | 2006 | Athènes
- Where are you | Triny Prada | 2007 | Clermont-Ferrand
- Kuun Timantit | Aubery Raffin & Clementine Wozny | 2018 | Clermont-Ferrand
- Notre famille à tous | Run Youxiang | 2004 | Pékin
Informations
- 03 > 05.05.2024 | Opening week-end
- 03 > 30.06.2023 | Exhibitions + concerts + meetings
- Couvent d’Hautrage
- 6, Place d’Hautrage 7334 Saint-Ghislain Belgique
- Free entrance
Production
- Transcultures, in partnership with Septem
- With the support of the “Le Chant des Chevaux” association.
