APG provides endless audio for Jarre project
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Despite the continual disruption caused by COVID-19 the museum unveiled on 15 July a new exhibition: the sixth edition of Open Museum Music. At the core of this exhibition sits a visionary creation, which has been developed by electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre in partnership with digital musical instrument and app creator BLEASS.
The artwork, known as EōN, has been designed to immerse visitors in ‘an endless audio and visual experience thanks to constantly evolving music and an endless organic progression of the visual content’.
The first incarnation of EōN, created by BLEASS under the artistic direction of Jean-Michel Jarre, was an app able to generate endless music and visuals. Another Frenchman, Dr Alexis André, who is based at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo, was responsible for the creation of EōN’s striking visual content.
Jean-Michel Jarre said about EōN: “It probably is one of the most exciting creative projects I’ve worked on since Oxygène. I have always wanted to create music that is specific to each listener, capable of constantly evolving in terms of rhythm, tonality, tempo, melody and texture. So here it is. EōN is conceived and composed as a different journey for everyone, with no determined end.”
For the PBA exhibition, BLEASS’s ‘infinite’ audio engine was to be scaled up from the size of a smart phone to a wall-mounted 75’’ Sony 4K Bravia video screen flanked by a pair of iX8 speakers, APG’s new compact speaker range dedicated to interior fixed installation.
Vianney Apreleff, BLEASS’s manager, explained: “Jean-Michel Jarre's vision was to present the video screens vertically, to be reminiscent of the monolith in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. That gave us the idea to arrange the iX speakers on either side, creating a kind of triptych effect.”
“We felt it was essential to have an audio system that matched the quality of the music,” said Apreleff. “We were happy to find a manufacturer in APG that could offer professional and perfectly reliable equipment that is also made in France! One of the major benefits was the bass response of these speakers. It was able to meet the artist’s high expectations in terms of sound quality, while negating the need for the additional subwoofer.
“It was extraordinary to be able to work with a pioneer like Jean-Michel Jarre during this process. He has great vision and his mind is constantly teeming with creative ideas; not to mention that he has such great humility in his work,” said Apreleff. “I would also like to thank APG for the quality of their products and professionalism of their follow-up.
“EōN immerses us into a sonic adventure without limits; it allows us to grasp the concept of ‘infinity’ with our own ears and eyes.”
The handheld version of EōN is available on iPhone and iPad via the App Store, with new versions on other operating systems and platforms coming soon.
