© Gregory Dargent
Armand LESECQ
Sound & Audiovisual Artist - Sound Designer - Electroacoustic Composer
armand.lesecq@protonmail.com
The Hague / Paris
Contact : armand.lesecq@protonmail.com
BIO
ENG
Armand Lesecq (1994) is an artist working in the fields of sound, digital art, experimental music and cinema.
His work focuses on the relationship between perception, attention and imagination. Through sound and/or visual compositions, he guides the viewer through inner, reflexive and introspective meanders.
In his performances, he likes to offer experiences that encourage sensory and perceptive exploration. The aim is to involve the audience in a posture of acute attention to rare perceptual phenomena, neglected or denied in everyday life, and to disorientate the mind from the paths marked out by habits and lifestyles.
His research lies at the crossroads between studies of altered states of consciousness (hypnosis, lucid dreaming, sensory deprivation), psychophysical phenomena (acoustic otoemission, phosphene), the role of mental projections in the process of reality making (perception) and the place of the imaginary in politics (ideology, distraction, alternative). The material he proposes is infused with these questions: it involves work on the induction of psychic states, on imaginary suggestion and on perceptual confusion.
Since 2020, he is developing a research on closed eye cinema - materialised with the project Phosphene. He is active as an electronic musician in the experimental music scene, playing solo as well as in projects Nuits (Emilie Skrijel, Tom Malmendier, Stéphane Clor), Hyperborée (Léa Roger, Clara Lévy, Stéphane Clor) and Hourvari (Nicolas Zentz). He also works as a sound designer, mixer and electroacoustic composer for installations, film and dance.
He is co-founder of the Parisian spatial music festival Les Sonifères and the experimental music label Ligne de Crête.
Armand holds a Master's degree from the Artscience Interfaculty (KABK & KC, The Hague, NL), studied at the HEAR Strasbourg (FR) and electroacoustic music composition at the Conservatoire de Pantin (FR).
FR
Armand Lesecq (1994) est un artiste évoluant dans les champs des arts sonores, numériques, de la musique et du cinéma expérimental.
Son travail se concentre sur les relations entre perception, attention et imagination. Au travers de compositions sonores et/ou visuels, il guide le spectateur au sein de méandres intérieurs, réflexifs et introspectifs.
Lors de ses performances, il aime proposer des expériences propices aux explorations sensorielles et perceptives. Il s’agit d’impliquer les publics dans des postures d’attention aiguës portées sur des phénomènes perceptifs rares, délaissés ou niés dans la vie courante, et désorientant l’esprit hors des chemins balisés par les habitudes et les modes de vie.
Ses recherches sont à la croisée entre études des états modifiés de conscience (hypnose, rêve lucide, privation sensorielle), de phénomènes psychophysiques (oto-émission acoustique, phosphène), du rôle des projections mentales dans les processus de création de réalité (perception) et de la place de l’imaginaire dans le politique (idéologie, distraction, alternative). Les matériaux qu'il propose sont empreints de ces questionnements: il s'agit d'un travail sur l’induction d’états psychiques, sur des jeux de suggestions d’imaginaires et sur des confusions perceptives.
Depuis 2020, il mène une recherche sur un cinéma pour paupières closes qui se matérialise avec le projet Phosphène. Il est actif en tant que musicien électronique, se produit en solo ainsi que dans les projets de musiques expérimentales Nuits (Emilie Skrijel, Tom Malmendier, Stéphane Clor), Hyperborée (Léa Roger, Clara Lévy, Stéphane Clor), Hourvari (Nicolas Zentz). Il travaille également en tant que sound designer, mixeur et compositeur électroacoustique pour le film et la danse.
Il est co-fondateur du festival Parisien de musique spatialisé Les Sonifères et du label de musiques expérimentales Ligne de Crête.
Armand est diplômé d'un master de la Artscience Interfaculty (KABK & KC, La Haye, NL), il a étudié à la HEAR Strasbourg et au conservatoire de Pantin en composition de musique électroacoustique.
EDUCATION
- 2022 Master degree, ArtScience, Royal Academy of Art (KABK) & Royal Conservatory (KC), The Hague, NL.
Thesis on connections between neurosciences, dreams & political imaginaries. - 2020 Bachelor of Art (DNA), Haute École de Arts du Rhin (HEAR), Strasbourg, FR.
- 2017 Conservatory diploma (DEM), electroacoustic composition, SACEM Prize, Pantin, FR.
Essay on space in experimental music and the development of a High Order Ambisonic sound spatialization workflow. - 2014 BTS (two-year technician qualification diploma), Audiovisual, sound department, Suger, Saint-Denis, FR.
Certifications & Workshops
2024: Workshop - Music mastering, INA, FR
2018: Certification MAX level 1, IRCAM, FR.
2017: Workshop - Audio Spatialization , IRCAM, FR.
EXPERIENCE
2014-now: Freelance sound designer, sound editor, re-recording mixer, mastering engineer & music composer.
2015-19: Full time position as sound editor, sound designer and re-recording mixer for cinema, TV and museums. Shaman-Labs / Commune Image, Saint-Ouen, FR.
Co-founder of Les Soniferes Festival, Paris.
Co-founder of Ligne de Crête, experimental music label.
Events (selection)
Performances at Venice Art Biennale, De Waag (Amsterdam), Festival Météo (Mulhouse), Cave12 (Geneva), Highlight Festival (Delft), Festival OFNI (Poitiers), Festival Jazz à Luz, iii (Den Haag), Festival Bruisme (Poitiers), Festival Superflux (Tours), Festival Plage Magnétique (Brest), Forum des Arts Sonores de Bastia, Le Périscope (Lyon), Le Cube (Garges), Le Générateur (Gentilly), DOC! (Paris), Arsenal (Metz), Mains d’Oeuvres (St-Ouen), Cité de la mode & du design (Paris), Fonderie Kluger (Geneva), Arcan DNA (Grenoble).
Residencies (selection)
2024 : ACROE & Apnées, multichannel composition residency, ambisonic dome, Grenoble, FR
2024 : Willem Twee Studios, sound research residency, Institut Français NL, Den Bosch, NL
2023 : GRAME, LIPS Lab, Immersion et nouvelles écritures, Villeurbanne, FR
2022 : Château Ephémère, Digital Arts, Sound Art & New Writings, FR.
2022 : Lieu Multiple & A veau-l'eau, Nuits, Aposiopèse, field recording & music, Poitiers, FR
2022 : CESARE CNCM, Research residency with Nuits, Reims, FR.
2021 : La Fraternelle, Research residency with Nuits, St-Claude, FR.
2021 : GMEA CNCM, Research residency with Hyperborée, Albi, FR. Work on spatial morphologies with an acoustic trio.
2018 : SILO, with Hourvari (doublebass and electronic). On site composition in a 10m high concrete silo.
Awards
2022 : Waag Future Lab, Art, Technology & Society Award for the project Phosphene
2017 : SACEM, music composition award for Halocline
2015 : Mixage Fou, sound design contest, Digital Salade Award
Music releases
2023: Nuits - Concert à Bruisme, binaural, Ligne de crête.
2023: Hourvari - Concrétions, Ligne de crête.
2023: Faux Semblant, Acoustic Territories vol. 0
2022: Hourvari - Parade, various on Syrinx Music.
2022: Tentative d'évaporation, soundtrack for a dance piece by Claire Hurpeau.
2021: Hyperborée, Live at Météo Festival, Mulhouse, Dreieck Interferences.
2021: Nuits, Latitudes
2020: Armand Lesecq, Parages, Compilation #2 confinement, Dreieck Interferences.
Audiovisual Live
2022-: Phosphène, Live AV, expanded cinema, film for closed eyes and spatial sound.
2019-: Remous, Live AV, DIY audiovisual instrument, water, feedback, hydrophone.
Video
2023: Crêtes, music video for Hourvari
2023: Tourner la pierre, music video for Hourvari
2022: Tangible Window, short movie, transparent multi-layered screen.
Music band
2020-: Nuits, quartet, electronic, accordion, drum, cello (Emilie Škrijelj, Tom Malmendier, Stéphane Clor).
2021-: Hyperborée, quatuor, electronic, violin, harp, cello (Clara Levy, Léa Roger, Stéphane Clor)
2018-: Hourvari, duo, electronic, doublebass (Nicolas Zentz).
2022-2023: Autre Collectif Ensemble, guest musician.
Music composition commission
2023: "Forgotten Ordinaries", binaural audio composition, commissioned by Highlight Delft Festival, iii (Instrument Inventors Initiative), Theater de Veste, NL.
2022: "Vibrant Landscape", composition for dance (directed by Claire Hurpeau).
2021: "Tentative d'Évaporation", music composition for a dance piece choreographed by Claire Hurpeau.
2020: "Quercus", music composition, short-movie (directed by Julien Munschy, produced by Le G.R.E.C).
2018: "@FARRAHAM22", music composition for an interactive installation by Aude Nasr & Paul Bourigan, 100% Festival, La Villette Paris.
Sound design
2024: "Bestiari", Sound design & Spatial Mix (HOA, IKO, WFS), directed by Carlos Casas, Catalan Pavillon, Venice Art Biennale, IT.
2023: "Paris 2043", immersive audio mix, EY Fabernovel, directed by Christophe Cheysson, produced by Mymetta.
2021: "Mahalla", Venice Architecture Biennale , Spatial mixer, ambisonic 3D mix, directed by Carlos Casas.
2019: "Cemetery", re-recording mixer 5.1, feature film directed by Carlos Casas.
2018: "The Show", sound editor, series directed by Jan Kounen, produced by BlackPills.
2020: "Quercus", sound editor & music composer, short film directed by Julien Munschy and produced by Le G.R.E.C.
2019: "Still Life" d'Edouard Sautai, exhibition at "La Maréchalerie - centre d'art contemporain (Versailles)" and at "Domaine de Kerguehennec" (Morbihan). Field recording & Sound editing.
2018: "16 Levers de Soleil", sound editor, feature documentary directed by Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff, produced by La 25e heure.
2018: "Dans la Peau de Thomas Pesquet", cinéma 360°, 2x20min. Directed by Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff. Produced by La vingt-cinquième heure. Prize "coup de coeur" du 360° film festival 2018. Sound editing, ambisonic and binaural spatial mix.
2017: "Monumelt", d'Edouard Sautai, exhibition at "galerie Fernand Léger", Ivry s/ seine. Sound design.
Sound installations
2023: A few seconds, installation for a chair, microphones and audio delays, collective exhibition "A meeting place for sounds", CLB gallery, Berlin, DE
2022: Surfaces, metal plates orchestra, Het HEM, Amsterdam, NL
Software dev.
2017-2023: Creation of a spatial workflow for Ableton Live. (Touch OSC, Ableton Live, IRCAM Spat, Cycling'74 MAX.)
2022: Custom spatialisation tools, MaxforLive & IRCAM Spat, interactive installation by Sandipan Nath.
2020 : Spatial workflow conception for Tommy Lawson and Jean-Daniel Bécache. (Touch OSC, Ableton Live, IRCAM Spat, Cycling'74 MAX.)
Academic paper
2024: Co-author, "Bestiari: a hypnagogic experience created by combining complementary state-of-the-art spatial sound technologies, Catalan Pavilion, Venice Art Biennale 2024", AES NY 2024
© Gregory Dargent