Mathias Arrignon

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Mathias Arrignon
BiographyMathias Arrignon (*1995) is a sound artist from Val-de-Marne (France), currently residing in London and working on both sides of the Channel. He uses field recordings, sound design techniques, digital instruments and programming software to create sense-engaging installations, compositions and performances. This interest in audio technology is a direct extension of his aurality, a sensitive curiosity which tends to connect with fragile facets of our environment that are at the edge of our perceptions and/or which need a greater attention. Graduated with a B.Sc. in audio engineering at the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (France), he has been working for almost nine years as a sound recordist and sound designer. With care, he accompanies the production of sonic narratives whether on radiophonic waves, or through the audible strata of films. After completing the M.A. sound arts course at the London College of Communication in 2021, he continues to refine his versatile use of sounds to foster empathetic listening to more-than-human worlds, such as the ocean acidification and the internal hum of trees.

DESCRIPTION

Mathias Arrignon: «To the hum of the forste»

On the threshold of pastoral pulsations, pilgrim legends and aerial contrails of the Swiss army, a sycamore tree stands peacefully on the edge of the Heiligkreuz forest, nestled in the mountainous regions of the Lucerne canton. Like a living monument, it is shrouded in vegetal memories where the deep time is infused in the narrative, gradually unfolding a sensitive reading of the environment in its most intimate geological strata. In spite of its rootedness, the tree suggests a motion to its audience, a walk which would allow to feel closely tied to the liminality of the woods, as if the sensation of an ineffable reality would become almost tangible.

To the hum of the forest is a sound piece produced during the artist's participation in the Anthropos Ex residency program in May 2022, in the UNESCO biosphere of the Entlebuch (CH). Using field recordings and internal sounds of trees made with contact microphones (custom-designed by Marcus Maeder), the composer blends this forestry layer with his feeling of the site by intertwining elements of sonic diarism and light inflections of electronic instruments.
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