Cocoon
Behind the moniker Cocoon hides Christophe Demarthe, singer of Clair Obscur, one of the flagship French bands of the post-punk scene of the 80s. Cocoon is a global project mixing electronic music, video, photo, text and performance. One of its red threads could be the extension of Clair Obscur’s attempt to move the performance and reception frames. Since its creation in 2004, Cocoon has performed in numerous festivals: Le Nouveau Festival du Centre Pompidou, Villette Numérique, L’Ososphère, Interstice, Emo-Son, Qwartz Awards, Nuit Blanche, Room 4… He has collaborated with visual artists Pierre Beloüin, Ludovic Chemarin©, P. Nicolas Ledoux, Ultralab ; choreographers and directors Anne Juren, Annie Dorsen, Agata Maszkiewicz, Superamas.
Clair Obscur
Of all the bands that animated the French cold wave and industrial scene of the 1980s, Clair Obscur is certainly one of those whose influence was most vivid beyond the borders of France. Several of their records have been published by British labels like All the Madmen or Cathexis Recordings, and one of their act of glory is to be part of the compilation 'From Torture To Conscience' of the mythical label N.E.R. alongside with Current 93, In The Nursery or Death In June (1984). From Killing Joke to The Nits, from Le Cirque d’Hiver de Paris (1982) to the Wiener Festwochen (1991), the bands with which they played, and the venues and places that they performed are a fantastic testimony to the richness of this band which is so difficult to classify.
Commissioned Music
Christophe Demarthe is a composer and sound designer based in Paris. For many years he has been working at the border of sound and visual arts, creating music and sound architectures for theatre, dance, visual arts, film, radio, television, luxury fashion. In his commissioned work Christophe Demarthe proceeds in small steps, by subtle intuitions, through an incessant game of back and forth between the project under construction and his sound work. Since 2007 he has been producing soundtracks for dance productions in France and Europe (Superamas, Anne Juren, Annie Dorsen, Agata Maszkiewicz) ; visual art (Pierre Beloüin, Ludovic Chemarin(c), P. Nicolas Ledoux, Ultralab) and luxury (Louis Vuitton).
Acoustic Cameras
Acoustic Cameras invites composers and sound artists to annex the real-time flow of webcams located in various places around the world. The flow of webcams is intercepted but not modified. The artist is invited to deliver a sound piece or piece of music related to this flow; This sound piece acting as a modification of reality. The resulting work is the encounter of a recorded sound piece and the live capture of a fluctuating landscape. Depending on the season, depending on weather, depending on time of day or night, the camera sweeps continuously the filmed location (seaside, city or mountain) and writes in real time the film of the artist's music.