Sylvain Levier and Nebel Lang: Korf ar son
(Body of Sound)
Sylvain Levier writes about his experience of creating a series of drawings, Body of Sound, in response to music. For two years, he worked remotely with the composer Nebel Lang. Lang recorded improvisations while tuning pianos throughout Europe. This work is an attempt to give form to the melodies and harmonies experienced. Time plays a role in these works as well as the formal elements of structure, space, and tone. They all interplay to map what was heard, felt, and reflected upon.
"Korf
ar son" (body of sound in Breton language) is a collaborative sound-based
project led by piano composer Nebel Lang and visual artist Sylvain Levier.
This
ongoing project started in 2019 proposes to link piano improvisations to their
graphic transcriptions. In the manner of stolen moments, each improvisation was
recorded on different pianos, in different places in Europe, during the tuning
process.
As
improvisations, these recordings are, by definition, not reproducible and are
not intended to be reinterpreted. There is a strong emphasis on the notion of a
unique moment in time, linked to a place and circumstances. Each track carries
the memory of an instant of which each visual work becomes the mode of
transmission.
Tuning a
piano requires diving into the guts of the instrument, listening to its
breathing, thus presenting an analogy with the name of the project.
Making this
breathing visible was the basis of the visual work. How to give a form to
something that does not have one, how to give it body.
Wilhelm
Schimmel (detail). Graphite lead and graphite powder on paper. October 2019.
Representing
the time of sound, its rhythm, the notes played as well as the silences and
resonances that constitute it, appeared to be an interesting approach.
In order to
obtain more than a simple abstract representation and to make music and image
inseparable, the structure of each drawing was obtained by the materialization
of a time line representing a sequence of approximately one minute extracted
from the track. The alternation of silences, resonances, and clearly heard
sounds determined the visual composition of each central part of the drawings,
which then contained the rhythmic signature of the improvisation.
Study for Doutreligne. Graphite lead on paper. 2022.
Study
for Chapter 3. Graphite lead and graphite powder on paper. 20cm x30cm.
October 2019.
Beyond the
initial drawing work, the final result being destined to take the form of
numbered art prints, this project gave rise to an important process of printing
and transformation that brought to light other possible paths by combining the
original drawings with computer-generated images from them.
Thus, these
experiments led to a set of printed studies that echo the original drawings and
mirror them by dissecting the original image.
Study for Wilh. Hauschildt. Four-pass laser printing.. 2021.
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Study
for Wilh. Hauschildt. Two-pass laser printing. 2021.
Each art
print is accompanied by a personal code that allows its owner to download the
music online on the Bandcamp platform.
Korf ar son
represents a sensitive attempt to bring two languages into dialogue.
What they
say: "Korf ar son's releases combine intricate visual art, floating piano
notes, imperfect sounds, and most importantly, utter silence. Somehow, by the
end of each work, the lack of sound sounds more musical than any possible
chord." Brutal new music, july 2022.
The result
is visible on: https://korfarson.com/
Composer and artist websites:
https://nebellang.bandcamp.
https://sylvainlevier.wixsite.
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