Cabane[s]

Following on from the WALDEN project (a graphic piece for small ensemble and soundtrack), the CABANE[s] project pays homage to H.D Thoreau and is constructed in several stages:

In each of the places we pass through, a different story is written for each of us. Loïc Guénin, composer, musician and sound artist, sets up his CABANE[s] for a given period of time and proposes to write a piece for mixed vocal and/or instrumental ensemble based on fragments, words and textual material left behind by the furtive inhabitants of this participative installation.

CABANE[s] project refers to the two years spent in a wooden cabin on the shores of Lake Walden (Concord, Massachusetts, USA) by the philosopher H.D. Thoreau, a leading figure in citizen ecology. Here, the public is invited to enter the cabin alone and spend some time sitting “at the table” in front of an open journal. Inspired by the “inner listening” of the space and the banded views from the windows opening onto the outside, everyone is invited to leave a snippet of their thoughts in writing before depositing their “page” in a letterbox. In this way, the composer collects the words of a place, the comments, thoughts and reflections posted by the public throughout the duration of the installation, before compiling them into the main material for a future piece.

• UA wooden cabin, a perfect cube measuring 2.8m x 2.8m, is set up around the target site. Placed on its edge, this object painted Sweden Falun red becomes a sculpture that can be lived in for a while. It has openings in the form of a strip that create special views of the surrounding environment. It remains in place for a long time (from a few months to a whole season) ;

• the public is invited to enter alone (a label explains how the piece works). Inside, there is just a table, a chair and a spiral notebook. People are invited to come in, sit for a moment, listen, look, breathe for a moment inside, then leave a word, a feeling, an emotion, a phrase...

• These snippets, these traces, these fragments of words are then deposited by visitors in a letter box set up against the door, inside the cabin ;

• Once the season is over, the harvest of these words becomes the main material for a composition for vocal ensemble, or for small instrumental and vocal ensemble (to be defined according to commission with each venue and ensemble) ;

• The piece is premiered the following season in the host venue.