NORDART, BÜDELSDORF, GERMANY, 2014
Kunstwerk Carlshütte
> See the PDF of the Gilles T. Lacombe exhibition at Nordart 2014
> Visit the exhibition site at www.kunstwerk-carlshuette.de
A stitch in time saves none
Cotton, stretched on a frame, cross in resin, metronomes.
(L x w x h) 2.80 x 2.20 x 2.50 for the tapestry and crosses
(L x w x h) 3.20 x 1.30 x 2.00 for the metronomes
Memory superstore.
1,334,356 tapestry stitches, 408 white crosses, Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes.
The work on display is composed of two times (tick and tock) and three movements.
The first movement, cotton stretched on a frame, was carried out by needle by experienced instrumentalists.
Against a green background, the second movement was executed with heavy weapons and cannon. The 408 participants can testify to the exactness and regularity of the rhythm.
The third movement (the only one that is truly in movement) presents 100 black metronomes on a combed base. They are programmed to play György Ligeti’s Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes, a piece they know by heart.
The images projected on the green canvas of the cemetery were filmed by Jérémy Van Quynh …
Poème symphonique pour 100 métronomes
Since its world premiere in the Netherlands in 1963, Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes of György Ligeti has been very rarely performed in public. The complicated scenographic staging, the detailed preparation by hand, the need for around ten technicians to activate more or less simultaneously the 100 metronomes, makes the demand for performances limited. Thirty-two years after the premiere, the sculptor and installation artist Gilles T. Lacombe heard a recording of the work. Impressed, he decided to invent a machine able to perform the piece automatically. After six months, he set up this ingenious device. Ever since, Poème symphonique can be performed accurately, at any time, and in public.
