Martin Messier
Martin Messier is a composer, performer and videomaker. If sound stands as the driving force of his work, Messier also quickly took an interest in the clash between electroacoustic music and other art forms as well as in artistic collaboration. That way, it is through the relationship between sound and $$ material (objects or bodies) that Messier’s work take shape. Messier constantly redefine the frontiers of concrete music by creating sounds with everyday life objects, such as alarm clocks, pens, self-conceived machines and sewing machines. At the very centre of this dialogue between sounds and objects is the desire to push the everyday imaginary a little further, to magnify these entities by giving them a voice and by reinventing their function. Messier also produces collaborative work mixing dance and music, trying to give life to sound through objects as well as bodies in movement. Here, through an inversed hierarchical relationship, music becomes the choreography’s driving force instead of being its mere accompanist. Martin Messier presented his work in various national festivals and events (Mutek, FTA and Mois Multi) as well as in international ones (Berlin’s Transmediale, Sonar in Barcelona, Nemo in Paris, Scopitone in Nantes and Today’s Art in the Hague). La chambre des machines also received a distinction at the prestigious Ars Electronica (Austria). In 2010, Messier founded 14 lieux, a sound production company for performing arts. This collaboration was created in order to provide a platform for such kind of sound work in the art scene.