French Exchange: 2008–2009
Davide Balula
Davide Balula grew up in the Portuguese mountains in the early 80's before moving to the French Alps where he studied electro-acoustic music. He then started to work with sculpture in Paris. His work can be seen and heard in many different venues such as Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museums Quartier, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art of Kyoto; Museum of Contemporary Art of North Miami; Total Museum, Seoul; and other locations in Sweden, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland.
Davide Balula works in different media including sound, electronic and visual devices. The participation of the viewer is often required to activate his pieces which sometimes change form in the duration of an exhibition. In his artworks, familiar objects and forms are taken out of their context and the border between reality and fiction disappears.
He has also released folk songs and electronic compositions on the French label Active Suspension, and is involved in Labranisch, an electronic music trio with O.Lamm and Domotic, as well as projects within the French electronic and improvisation music scene.
In collaboration with Confort Moderne and Lappareil, Davide Balula has just released an artist-book entitled STOMACH RAINBOW which includes contributions from the artists, writers, critics, musicians and philosophers: Kathy Alliou, Laetitia Bénat, Julien Berthier, Yann Chevallier, Peter Coffin, Antonio Contador, Angela Detanico & Rafael Lain, Le Gentil Garçon, Béatrice Gross, Olivier Lamm, Stéphane Laporte, Christine Macel, Valeria Motelli, Rui Pombal, Elisa Pône, Lee Ranaldo, Mirjam Schaub, Leah Singer, and Francesco Stocchi. Each participant chose a fragment of Davide Balula's work and transformed it into a new two-dimensional piece. By making a body of work nimble and portable, the colors of this collaboration became a multi-personal revolution ready to be shared with the public.
About the French Exchange
In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of the City of Paris (Marie de Paris), LMCC hosted a Paris-based artist in New York for a six-month residency, November 2008 through April 2009. The French Exchange resident received studio space in Lower Manhattan, as well as a separate living space, a monthly stipend, access to a community of artists through LMCC’s concurrent Workspace program, individual studio visits with New York-based arts professionals, and access to new audiences through open studio events.
The program is the result of, and reciprocation for, the Paris Residency Program and the many years the Mayor’s Office of the City of Paris (Mairie de Paris) has sponsored New York City artists to participate in residences at the Cité International des Arts.
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Flaque (Puddle), 2008
3 m, 2,30 m, 1,5 m (reconfigurable)
Glass, wooden structure
Blast wave frozen into facets of glass.
Photo by Pierre Antoine
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La Grippe, 2008
Dimensions variable
Air conditioner and heater
One room is cooled down to 9°C, the next room is heated to 40°C. The thermal shock created is able to weaken the immune system and accelerate the aging process while generating some electric power.
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The Underwater Tones. The Ice Blows, 2007
Dimensions variable
Performance, ice, photographs
Sculpture on ice retaking the form of a splash but without a shockwave. The form changes in relation to the melting of the ice. Slow explosion.
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Can't Remember the Speed of the Blast, 2005–08
Dimensions variable
Firecrackers, framework, performance
20,000 firecrackers hung on a mic stand explode at the same time. Some residue of the red paper is left on the ground. A high frequency (16KHz) simulates an artificial tinnitus. (in collaboration with Elisa Pône)
