MARTIN MESSIER | SEWING MACHINE ORCHESTRA

picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier-1
picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier-2
picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier-3
picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier-4

MARTIN MESSIER | SEWING MACHINE ORCHESTRA

Singer sewing machines, objects charged with collective memory and family histories, evoke a transfigured past brought back to the present and decontextualized. In the performance Sewing Machine Orchestra, eight domestic machines, collected and diverted from their utilitarian function, become the instruments of Martin Messier. He orchestrates a choreography of movement, activating mechanical motors and contact microphones scattered around the machines.

This work reveals the sound and light potential of this familiar object. Unsettling by virtue of the agitation it generates, this performance is punctuated by a series of tableaux of sometimes oppressive rhythm and intensity.

The omnipresent light accentuates the spectral effect of the installation. It transcends the overall choreography and casts the shadows of these ghostly objects, symbolically reanimating an industrial and domestic past. Sewing Machine Orchestra, also available as an installation, invites us to take part in an unsettling experiment on our ties to collective memory and its materiality.

Concept, performance, programming, light and music
Martin Messier

Electronic
Samuel St-Aubin

Photos credits
Alexis Bellavance

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯  MACHINE MOUVEMENT MUSIQUE LUMIÈRE  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯  MACHINE MOVEMENT MUSIC LIGHT  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

picture-of-the-project-cycles-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-1-drop-1000-years-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-cycles-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-cycles-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-elusive-matter-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-field-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-innervision-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-impulse-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-echo-chamber-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-con-sordina-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-boite-noire-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-con-grazia-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-ashes-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-projectors-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-sewing-machine-orchestra-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-soak-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-corps-mort-by-the-artist-martin-messier
picture-of-the-project-machine-variation-by-the-artist-martin-messier
la chambre des machines
autoportrait

AUTOPORTRAIT CON FUOCO

autoportrait
echo chamber martin messier
echo chamber martin messier
echo chamber martin messier
echo chamber martin messier

CYCLES

CYCLES
echo chamber martin messier
field martin messier

FIELD

PERFORMANCE
innervision martin messier
impulse martin messier
sewing machine orchestra martin messier
echo chamber martin messier
echo chamber martin messier

CON SORDINA

CHOREOGRAPHY
boite noire martin messier
con grazia martin messier
ashes martin messier
projectors martin messier
sewing machine orxhestra martin messier
soak martin messier
corps mort martin messier
machine variation
la chambre des machines
autoportrait
autoportrait