Spasmes

Spasmes is an immersive and inclusive concert produced in collaboration with the ensemble l’Imaginaire and composer Karl Naegelen, featuring three blind and visually impaired participants (Cathie Furst, Jérôme Candusso, and Doriane Coget). The project is based on the perception that blind and visually impaired people have of their environment, prompting reflections on the connections between the senses, particularly on touch, which often substitutes for sight in cases of these disabilities.

Ulysse Gohin designed a synesthetic installation based on three “phantom instruments” that combine sound, light, and touch, and which serve as avatars of each instrument in the Imaginary Trio (flute, saxophone, and piano), reproducing their forms and timbres. Touch was the starting point for designing these phantom instruments, in terms of their shape, texture, lighting effects, and sounds.These objects are designed to conform to the shape of the hands, with curved, very smooth, and soft surfaces. They are equipped with touch sensors that trigger sounds, and lights that illuminate the fingertips from the inside, bathing them in a glowing red light. The sounds triggered by the phantom instruments are derived from recordings of the trio’s instruments, captured via contact microphones, revealing the hidden details of the sound as it propagates through the material.The result is an immersive experience where the stimuli seem to act internally, as if perceived from within the body