Invisible Landscapes (Live)
COLLECTIVE SOUNDWALK with FRANKIE & Tomoko Sauvage
Opening performance of the Biennale Son
La Centrale, Saturday August 30, 2025
Opening the second edition of the Biennale Son, Invisible Landscapes is a live performance by Soundwalk Collective, set in the heart of La Centrale de Chandoline - a former hydroelectric power station built to harness water from the surrounding glaciers. The power station was eventually shut down as the glaciers retreated, making this a site marked by the very disappearance of the natural systems on which it depended.
This new live version extends the sound installation presented in La Centrale's control room as part of the Biennale Son. It traces a sonic passage from the melting glaciers of Greenland to the arid deserts of Chile. Field recordings captured by Stephan Crasneanscki in 2024 form the basis of the piece, evoking the physical and acoustic transformation of these vanishing environments.
The performance features musician and singer FRANKIE (Franziska Aigner), whose work lies at the intersection of performance, music and philosophy. Performing live on cello and voice excerpts from Rachel Carson's environmental writings, she draws on her experience as a collaborator with Anne Imhof, William Forsythe and Holly Herndon, as well as her solo practice, which combines classical instrumentation, voice and electronics.
Paris-based composer and sound artist Tomoko Sauvage plays with porcelain bowls filled with water and amplified by hydrophones. Her instrument, developed through long experimentation, produces tonal textures shaped by water movement and resonance. For this piece, she evokes the sound of singing sands - an acoustic phenomenon found in some of the world's driest landscapes.
The live set also includes video projections by Pedro Maia, composed of images shot by Crasneanscki in Greenland, Iceland and extreme desert areas. This visual dimension extends the work's spatial and ecological reach, bringing sound and image together in a performance that reflects on environmental transformation and loss.
