En amour is an immersive, interactive experience at the intersection of live performance and visual art installation. It is part of the Rituals series conceived by the Adrien M & Claire B company as spaces for experimentation that are both collective and intimate, placed under the aegis of a powerful gentleness.

The public body is invited to form a temporary human choreography, free and organic. The installation-experiment Dernière minute initiated this series in 2022. For En amour, musician Laurent Bardainne has composed an original sound experience, mixing sensitive pop and electronic music with the voice of singer November Ultra, in a delicate interweaving with the images.

- Ages 6 and up
- Running time: 40 minutes
- The installation is accessible by session. It is imperative to arrive on time. Once the experience has begun, access will no longer be permitted.
- To make the most of the experience, the audience will be asked to remove their shoes.
- Some short sequences may affect people with epilepsy or photosensitivity

We have decided to keep the title of this work in French En amour, as we feel it embraces a more complex description of love, with several layers of understanding.
Love as a direction, a colour, a light, a voice, a way of being.
In love, to love, with love, by love... all these are right, but not comprehensive enough when singled out.

A symbolic experience

This work offers the chance to experience a symbolic metamorphosis around the theme of love and separation. Its narrative is rooted in an intimate story, opening up to greater, to share a journey of sensations, emotions, shapes, colours, sounds and words that will awaken, deglaze and strengthen our love. Staying true to our minimalist, uncluttered aesthetics, for En amour we will also be using colour as a dramaturgical tool, creating a combination of coloured light, produced by LED projectors, and coloured video-projected images. The path of the sun and luminous meteors7 produced by the refraction and reflection of light are our main source of inspiration to create this score of colours: night, dawn, aurora, sunrise, zenith, sunset, blue hour, twilight…
The infinite nuances of sunlight, and its imaginary nature, are one of the layers that make up the overall dramaturgical framework and help to convey the cyclical,
symbolic and ritual dimension of the experience.

A sound and image performance

The image and the music are subtly intertwined into a narrated visual symphony lasting approx 40 minutes, allowing the music to be seen and the images to be heard. Finely tuned into the musical energy, projected images are created by blending the motion of computer-generated particles with edited realistic video captures.
The musician Laurent Bardainne will compose an original sound experience, mixing sensitive pop and electronic music with the voice of singer November Ultra, in a delicate interweaving with the images.

An immersive and interactive experience

The audience in movement is immersed in the image and spatialised music. In a large room, particles are projected onto part of the floor and several transparent gauze screens extend the image vertically. A static score (identical at each performance) is combined with a dynamic score (unique to each performance) which involves the audience: the images are altered by the presence and movements of the public by means of a network of infrared cameras and fine signal analysis, offering many ways for audience and score to interact.
The audience’s body is an essential component of the experience. Strolling around barefoot in this sensitive and responsive environment, the public is invited to experiment with different postures : a simple gesture, a stillness, a step, a sophisticated movement will all coexist without hierarchy in this space and give it meaning.

Technological sovereignty at the service of new rituals

In the face of paradoxes and ambivalences associated with the use of technology, we aim for a sober approach, with use reduced to its ingenious and shared essence, as well as the greatest possible sovereignty. We build custom computers and software architectures. And the eMotion software, which Adrien Mondot has been developing since 2006, is at the heart of the making of our images. We use computers, video-projectors or augmented reality devices to create symbolic experiences of living, to play with different ways of being in the world, to arouse a sensitive attention to beings and things. We put digital tools at the service of the living, to make theatre, to create live moments shared by the living. We believe that poetry, beauty and metaphor are powerful keys, and it is with this intention that we use technologies. To disorient, cause reality to waver, fashion a symbolic theatrical experience.
Gatherings, festivals, shows, ceremonies, and all iterations of collective living that rely on the imaginary, the poetic, the symbolic and the sharing of emotions are for us an antidote to the fear of the other and the deconstruction of our social bond.

Team and partners

Adrien M & Claire B
New work 2024

Concept, artistic direction, images and scenography Claire Bardainne, Adrien Mondot
Music score, sound concept and saxophone Laurent Bardainne
Computer design and development Adrien Mondot assisted by Eva Décorps, Loïs Drouglazet
Technical managment Jean-Marc Lanoë
Sound engineering, mix Thibaut Javoy
Texts and story’s voice Claire Bardainne
Voice November Ultra
Horn Camille Lebréquier
Strings Oriane Pocard Kieny, Théo Ceccaldi, Valentin Ceccaldi
Harp Christophe ‘Disco’ Minck
Piano and synthesisers Arnaud Roulin
Dramaturgical advice Karthika Naïr
Special thanks to Charlotte Farcet, Stéfanie James

Administration Marek Vuiton, assisted by Mathis Guyetand
Technical direction Raphaël Guénot
Production and booking Joanna Rieussec
Production Margaux Fritsch, Delphine Teypaz, Juli Allard-Schaefer

Production
Adrien M & Claire B
Website : www.am-cb.net/

Music executive production
Matthieu Gazier / Ekleroshock records

Coproduction
Cité de la musique — Philharmonie de Paris
Chroniques - Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques, Archaos - Biennale Internationale des Arts du Cirque, et Lieux Publics - Centre national des arts de la rue et de l’espace public et pôle européen de création, dans le cadre de la plateforme CHRONIQUES CRÉATIONS

Support
Avec le soutien du Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée
Fonds [SCAN] - Préfet de la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

The Adrien M & Claire B Company is subsidized and accredited by DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne-
Rhône-Alpes Region and is supported by the City of Lyon.

Press relations
Plan Bey agency