As we entered, we were surrounded by a spiral sound installation created by Antony & Max. We then stepped through a large curtain into the first court yard, where we offered a chance to connect with water and fire. Our learned supporters, Cyril and Selma, gave us an introduction to the story of Mélusine. The staircase with « Drop Curtain » and « Listening Chair », created by Nadine, gave us access to the upper court yard where our Gyre banner marked the way. Proceeding into a narrow corridor we stepped under Mélusine´s tail, a cone of bright blue material inspired by the tradition of Chinese kites was flaying about noisily in the very strong wind. In one of the former « casemates » inside the mountain, Marc had set up his video installation, many projections of various sizes, some directly on the rocks : water in its many forms morphing into a symbolic « Gyre », hypnotic animated drawings intended to alter our consciousness; simultaneously he created live spatial sounds with his synthesizers.
After this tour through the very special spaces of the Fort, we finally arrived at the « Loge ». A space with stone walls and a very high ceiling, with nice acoustics, where Antony has set up his electronic and acoustic instruments; here Nadine had also set up her 6 meter painting structure. Marc was present with electro-sound, Max Carola with electro-guitar and Nadine with her two gongs. The performance started. In the next 40 minutes we followed Antony´s story: how Raymond begins to remember his lost love and to discover his special relation to the element of water, in its various forms. Nadine painted live with ink on china paper - expressing the story with images of nature painted with coloured water. Antony lent his voice to Raymond through various stages of ranting, sorrow and longing, as Raymond re-members, step by step, what
his purpose is. Antony was accompanied by Marc and Max with their electronic and electro acoustic sounds, which opened a new space, another world to our ears… With the galactic sound of the gong, the performance ended.
Photo credit: René Georges Bissinger and Nadine Rennert