Director Bob Wilson takes over the Sainte

Designed for the Sainte-Chapelle, Gloria is an immersive sound work broadcast by a sound spatialization device developed especially for the monument. To the musical composition of Richard Landry are added excerpts from From rerum natura, of Lucrece, carried by the voices of a woman, a man and a child. Evoking the birth of the world and the relationship of humans to the universe, these words blend harmoniously with the spirituality of the place. Meeting with Bob Wilson.

Why this creation at the Sainte-Chapelle?

When I first came to Europe at 17, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Sainte-Chapelle. Can you imagine a little guy from Texas in front of such a marvel? When, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my first staging at the Festival d’Automne, Philippe Bélaval (president of the Center des monuments nationaux, editor’s note) suggested that I create a project for one of the monuments for which he is responsible – there were a hundred of them – I immediately thought of the Sainte-Chapelle.

In order not to distort the place, there could be no visual effect, only sound, music. I immediately thought of Richard Landry for the musical composition. Gloria pays homage to the glory of this place.

Bob Wilson

• Didier Plowy – CMN

What inspires you the most there?

The light. The play of light in the stained glass windows. And the height. I like to be in this space and look up.

You had already made creations at the basilica of Saint-Denis (93) and at the chapel of Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, in Paris (13th). What is your relationship to these places and to the sacred?

I like quiet places. I was happy this morning that people were silent while listening Gloria. Walking in a park, in contact with nature, is also a wonderful experience for me. I’m not religious, but I believe in a higher power. I think a spiritual force can bring people together. At the theater, but also at the Sainte-Chapelle.

Whether you are atheist, Jew, Buddhist, etc., whatever your religion: you can gather here and share something beautiful and unique. Rich or poor, you can enter. It is a place where music can be played, where art is seen by all. It’s wonderful to have a landmark like this, where people have the opportunity to escape for a moment from the frenzy of the world. A place to reflect, contemplate and dream. For me, it’s a spiritual place.

Gloria does it represent an artistic challenge?

Yes. It was technically very complicated. The sound processing software was developed by Amadeus, in coordination with Ircam (Institute for Music Acoustic Research and Coordination, based in Paris). First, we had considered trajectories for the sound, but it didn’t work. I kept turning my gaze to where the sound was coming from.

You had to be able to live the 360° experience. We then developed this spatialization. There are 16 camouflaged loudspeakers in different places. They’re little golden boxes high up, and that’s what I like about this installation: we don’t know where the sound is coming from.

Tell us about your collaboration with composer Richard Landry.

Dickie and I have known each other very well since the 1970s in New York. We’re both from the South, he from Louisiana and I from Texas. We spend a lot of time thinking about our work, so we have no difficulty in dialogue. It’s a real collaboration. He composed, then made me listen. Sometimes I took the passages as they were, sometimes I repeated them or modified them. When I changed something, I asked him if he was okay with it. If it wasn’t, I took that into account.

And why a text?

Music appeals to our spirituality. I wanted to add a slightly more intellectual note to it, a text spoken by a woman, a man, and a child. I first tried layering the words over the music, but that didn’t work. I came to understand that the music should be one thing and the lyrics another.

Why From rerum natura ?

From the beginning, I wanted this text. It is a text, not timeless, but which on the contrary includes a great temporal dimension; it is so modern for this reason. It is from the 1st century BC. AD! It resonates like a rock and seems indestructible. Like the music, it is part of the continuity of these stained glass windows and approaches them in a profane way by speaking to us about the relationship of man to nature, of human to human, of the soul and the body, of the separation of heaven and earth…

This text is carried by three voices. Does it have any special meaning?

I find the number 3 interesting. It is present in many structures. The past, the present, the future; for the body: skin, joints, bones; perspective in painting… There is also the three sisters by Chekhov. The number 3 is a trinity. Here, I thought of a family with the wife, the man and the child. I added my voice for brief forays into English about the beginning of the world.

You spent a long time working in the Sainte-Chapelle. Do you have a favorite time when it comes to the light and the colorful reflections of the stained glass windows?

Depends on the weather obviously, but I would say around 4-4:30pm. The yellows and blues are absolutely sumptuous. It’s decidedly different than being in a theatre…

Have
Gloria, a sound installation by Bob Wilson, music by Richard Landry, with the voices of Cécile Brune, Éric Génovèse and Marius Chemin.
Until December 31, 2022, Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m.
Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (I). saint-chapelle.fr
Life love passionately.

Director Bob Wilson takes over the Sainte-Chapelle for an unprecedented Gloria