Éliane Radigue

The amazing story of electronic music: its epic journey from its origins in Europe, at the hands of the great artists of the post-war classical avant-garde, to the great post-industrial cities of the USA, where this genre of genres took over music stores, shady clubs and, eventually, the big stages.

An experimental film on the geographic and historical voyage of the peculiar sound of the so-called 'Basque ox carts'. Said sound, which could be heard until the decade of the 60s in part of the Bay of Biscay, has now practically disappeared from the Iberian peninsula. The film travels from the silence of the sound in our territory today, until its reappearance, following years of research, in the central area of Brazil.

Think of early electronic music and you’ll likely see men pushing buttons, knobs, and boundaries. While electronic music is often perceived as a boys' club, the truth is that from the very beginning women have been integral in inventing the devices, techniques and tropes that would define the shape of sound for years to come.

Suddenly there is an enormous amount of time. At first everything is possible. Anything might happen. Gradually the possible becomes impossible.

This new film approaches the world of French sound pioneer Éliane Radigue (*1932) from a perspective of close proximity. French filmmaker Eléonore Huisse and sound artist François J. Bonnet visit their friend Éliane’s home in Paris in times of social distancing and lockdown to explore questions pertaining to solitude, imagination, retreat, the inner voice and temporality – questions that resonate with Radigue’s work, philosophy and way of living as much as with the acute collective experience of suspension and isolation brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This new film approaches the world of French sound pioneer Éliane Radigue (*1932) from a perspective of close proximity. French filmmaker Eléonore Huisse and sound artist François J. Bonnet visit their friend Éliane’s home in Paris in times of social distancing and lockdown to explore questions pertaining to solitude, imagination, retreat, the inner voice and temporality – questions that resonate with Radigue’s work, philosophy and way of living as much as with the acute collective experience of suspension and isolation brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Ocean Going Figurine" is a single screen performance in which the artist records an assemblage of figurations. Screen recording software witnesses the figuring out and figuring of conversations and movements which have been pulled from a longer iterative sequence. The software used to construct the figures highlights the collaborative process.

A cave with an animal trapped inside? An eyeball vaguely reflecting a sleeping horse? A peephole into the black night? A dark side of the globe? An electro-acoustic soundscape by Eliane Radigue guides us on an abstract journey through the night. Entirely based on footage from unsecured live surveillance cameras.

The last film in Vidokle's trilogy on Cosmism is a meditation on the museum as the site of resurrection-a central idea for many Cosmist thinkers, scientists and avant-garde artists. Filmed at the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow Zoological Museum, The Lenin Library, and the Museum of Revolution, the film looks at museological and archival techniques of collection, restoration and conservation as a means of the material restoration of life, following an essay penned by Nikolai Federov on this subject in the 1880s. The film follows a cast comprised of present-day followers of Federov, several actors, artists and a Pharaoh Hound that playfully enact a resurrection of a mummy, a close examination of Malevich's Black Square, Rodchenko's spatial constructions, taxidermied animals, artifacts of the Russian Revolution, skeletons, and mannequins in tableau vivant-like scenes, in order to create a contemporary visualization of the poetry implicit in Federov's writings.

This intimate look at Éliane Radigue, French pioneer of minimalist and electro-acoustic music, explores the sensory singularity of her "sound sculpture" and its meditative virtues.

This intimate look at Éliane Radigue, French pioneer of minimalist and electro-acoustic music, explores the sensory singularity of her "sound sculpture" and its meditative virtues.

Charles is a portrait of a middle-aged man I met outside a 7/11 late one night on the outskirts of Oklahoma City in 2015. Charles had been homeless for some years, estranged from his family because of his schizophrenia, and was living by a pond at the back of the convenience store. We instantly formed a very intimate connection due to his gentle and deeply compassionate outlook on life. He told me beautiful stories about how he would talk to the trees and clouds before going to sleep each evening, and his plans to visit his daughter in Memphis before the end of the year. We ate some dinner together by his pond before shooting this portrait at about 3am.

In support of experiences that are essentially common, but to which language does not easily adhere, the video passes through places that are both themselves, and stand-ins for others. The title is taken from Aleister Crowley’s 1918 translation of the "Tao Te Ching."

Fourth in the IMA Portraits series, this short introduces us to the life and work of electronic/contemporary composer Eliane Radigue. Radigue discusses methods of composition, the challenges and difficulties of live electronic music, as well as biographical episodes with Pierre Henry and her own goals in soundscape production and consumption.