Bzzz! — The Sound of Electricity A sound sculpture designed to render the sound of electricity audible and spread it over the ambient space. The sculpture has a radial form, arranged around a sound wave generator at the centre of a room surrounded by a set of wall—mounted loudspeakers. The generator is connected to the loudspeakers by a bundle of audio wires running vertically and then branching out to form a sort of tree that shows the pathways of the electrical current. The frequency generator is of a deliberately crude design, comprising just a few basic electronic components that allow the electrical current to be modulated so as to generate slightly amplified sound vibrations. Six simultaneous sounds are thereby produced and spread over the ambient space. This arrangement invites the viewer to move from one sound to another and experience how these sounds interact, how they scrape and buzz against one another. By reinventing an obsolete low—tech sound wave generator in this all-digital age, Bzzz! serves as a commentary on the history of technology and a tribute to unprocessed, unsampled analog sound: in a word, the raw sound of electricity.
Cécile Babiole (b. 1956 in Paris) — a French visual and sound artist. She deals with installations, video, and performance. She is the cofounder of the industrial music group NOX in 1980. What is characteristic of her work is the fusion of image and sound. She began with making video art, 3D animations and films to then start creating dynamic, real—time audiovisual installations.
Her installations and performances (Scribbling Waves, 2004; The Way You Walk, 2002; Circulez Y’A Rien A Voir, 2001; Reality Dub, 1999) combine low and high technology. She made videos, such as: Menagerie (1998), Acte 1: Back to the roots (1989), Killing Drive Power (1990), Rut (1991), Bula Bula (1993), 100 Loops (2000) or Crumple Zone (2005), among others.
As artist—in—residence at La Filature national performing arts center in Mulhouse, France (2008—10), Cécile Babiole has mounted the sound and video installation 0.0116 RPM (March 2008), Mexican Standoff — a performance of music and images with Laurent Dailleau (April 2008), I’ll be your mirror — a show for dancer and avatar in 3D with Blandine Pinon (October 2008), and the sound and light installation, Control Room (March 2009).
She was awarded at various festivals, such as: Imagina (1992), Images du Futur (1992), Ars Electronica (1992), World Graph Award Locarno (1992), Transmediale Berlin (2003), Stuttgart FilmWinter and Expanded Media Festival (2004), Aide à la creation multimédia Arcadi (2004, 2009), Aide à la maquette DICREAM (2004, 2009), SCAM Pierre Schaeffer (2012).
In 1989 she received an honorable mention from the WRO 89, the first edition of the International Media Art Biennale WRO.
She lives and works in Paris.
