KorSonoR, sound and visual arts

Featured artists
Tarek Atoui; Ban Lei; Rudy Decelière; Emilie Ding + Alizée Lenox; Agnès Geoffray; Kim Gordon; Olga Kokcharova; Christina Kubisch; Ari Benjamin Meyers; Max Neuhaus; Susan Philipsz; Benoît Renaudin; Anne Rochat + Jessica Aszodi, Laurent Bruttin, Contrechamps, Billy Demiguel, Ariel Garcia, Olga Kokcharova, Francisco Meirino, Serge Teuscher; Roman Signer + Antoine Françoise; Naama Tsabar

Curator: Olivier Kaeser
Organisation and production: Arta Sperto

Arta Sperto curates, organises and produces transdisciplinary artistic projects. After two editions of Dance First Think Later (2020 and 2022), which explores the meeting ground between dance, performance and the visual arts, Arta Sperto presents KorSonoR, a new biennial festival dedicated to sound and visual arts.

Geneva is a city where music shines, thanks to its many orchestras, ensembles, concert halls, festivals and schools, some of whom stand out for their experimental, cross-disciplinary approach and openness to collaboration. It is also home to one of the rare permanent works in the public space by former American musician and composer Max Neuhaus (1939–2009), who came up with the concept of sound installation in the 1960s. His career, which blends music and sound art, inspired KorSonoR, and the presence of his work in Geneva and in the exhibition creates a link between the international history of sound art and Geneva’s art scene.

KorSonoR explores the resonances between sound and visual arts through exhibitions, installations, in situ works, live performances, videos and cross-disciplinary collaborations. The project aims to experiment with sound and understand how it is inherent in the human body and in life, whether we approach it from a sensitive, cultural, social, spatial, urban or environmental perspective.

KorSonoR will feature major artistic figures, including Christina Kubisch with her Electrical Walks through Geneva; Susan Philipsz with a Radiohead-inspired sound work placed under a bridge across the Rhône; Ari Benjamin Meyers with a live performance based on a climate manifesto and backed by an electrifying musical composition; Naama Tsabar with an installation that uses audio equipment as sculptural material and which is activated by politically-connotated performances; or Kim Gordon whose film transposes her guitar playing from the concert stage to a car scrapyard—the twilight setting of a suffocating world—which she magnifies through a sensitive performance.

KorSonoR will also feature works by a number of Swiss artists: Anne Rochat with an immersive installation based on heartbeats—her own and those of visitors—which are captured, transformed and broadcast, featuring guest musicians; Rudy Decelière’s sculpture made up of hundreds of beech leaves that are set in motion and sound by an electronic device; Benoît Renaudin’s installation with which visitors can compose sounds and drawings on a metal disc using a laser; or Olga Kokcharova’s sound portrait of a theatre building, offering an original perception of both architecture and a cultural hotspot.

KorSonoR will be spread across concert venues, performing arts laboratories, museums, theatres, opera houses and public spaces in Geneva.

Programme
September 28–October 22: exhibition with Ban Lei, Rudy Decelière, Kim Gordon, Christina Kubisch, Max Neuhaus, Susan Philipsz, Anne Rochat, Benoît Renaudin, Naama Tsabar
September 28–30: Naama Tsabar, Barricades (Ruptures)
September 28–October 1: Ban Lei, 153 returning birds
September 29: Ari Benjamin Meyers, Forecast (LX23)
September 29–October 1: sound performances in Anne Rochat’s immersive installation In Pulse by Jessica Aszodi, Francisco Meirino, Serge Teuscher, Laurent Bruttin, Billy Demiguel, Contrechamps, Olga Kokcharova, Ariel Garcia
October 1–8: Olga Kokcharova, Retours Loge
October 2: Roman Signer + Antoine Françoise, Restenfilme
October 6: listening session of LPs activeRat; Asi Foeker + Raoul Doré, accel./cresc; Magda Drozd + Nicola Genovese, Viscera; DJ set by Laurent Schmid
October 15: Agnès Geoffray, Fléau
October 19: Tarek Atoui, performance
October 20: Emilie Ding + Alizée Lenox, The Monument is Listening
October 22: Benoît Renaudin, LASER