Interception Joël Barr, alias Joseph Berg, alias Metr // Olivier Messiaen, 2008 sculpture, electronic plate engraved and tinned, oak and walnut wood plated on plywood approx. 320 x 20 x 19 cm

On a sequence of electronic panels, worked according to circuit printing technique, one can read a sonogram, i.e. a visual representation of a sound frequency and its duration. This circuit, on its galvanized surface, exchanges the passing of electric impulses for a representation of those, which could traverse it. For every second of the soundtrack, 1,5 cm of the surface is used. The (arbitrary) translation of the parameters of duration into distance extends the sculpture along the wall. The sonogram is one of the four Etudes de rythmes by Olivier Messiaen, composed in 1949, which contributed to the appearance of serial music. In this very year, a non ordinary student followed Messiaen's classes at the Music Conservatory: Joël Barr, alias Metr, electronic engineer specialised in radars and a spy, who intended to build up a new life as a composer. The next year, he would be exfiltrated to Moscow, where he would contribute, under the name of Joseph Berg, to the creation of Zelenograd, the soviet version of Silicon Valley.

Bettina Samson's (1978) sculptures and installations superpose representation and perception, operating a form of reversion or mutual substitution. By means of complexe systems of anecdotes and references (to pop culture, fiction and "History"), she convokes a sort of archeology of the myths and antagonisms that constructed the XXth century. Samson's last project has been recently presented at RLBQ gallery in Marseille. Her work has been featured as well in group shows such as The Re-conquest of space at Overgarden, Copenhagen, Des mondes perdus at CAPC in Bordeaux, or Promenade au Zoo, at Lyon Biennial's last edition.

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ph. Remy Lidereau