Appreciating the quality of the phonographies recorded in the Camargue as part of Marc Namblard's "Recording the Landscape" workshop in April 2025, the Réattu Museum in Arles is showcasing four immersive landscape pieces to be enjoyed in the beautiful setting of its "Listening Room." A profound listening experience, as close as possible to the elements (water, wind) and living things.
"You can explore the Camargue, camera in hand or sketchbook in hand. Here, the challenge wasn't to produce finished works, but to dare to listen and record: to confront the vagaries of the terrain, to decipher the sonic expression of the elements, to delicately approach the living… Through these sound sketches, witnesses to a stage in a long-term journey, the keen attention, the sensitivity of the author, and the commitment of the participants are already expressed."
Marc Namblard, director of the "Recording the Landscape" workshop
Since his studies at art school, Marc Namblard has lived and worked in Lorraine. His numerous projects (for publishing, museography, performance, television, film, etc.) and his collaborations are marked by a dual approach, both naturalistic and artistic, rational and intuitive. In his work, his demand for sound writing competes with the rigor of naturalistic observation.
In their documentary film L’esprit des lieux (Ana Films/Les films de la pluie), which received a star from the SCAM in 2019, directors Stéphane Manchematin and Serge Steyer show him at work on the ground and in the studio.
Piémanson Beach, April Morning (6’05)
Yoana Urruzola - Fr
"Reach a territory, discover it as best you can, explore it, look at it, listen to it. Set up your microphones somewhere, find a spot that won't be too disruptive if possible (but you're not invisible). Accept losing yourself in the time of listening and welcoming what may (or may not) happen. Don't move too much. Gradually disappear a little. Wait, forget that you're waiting, move on, blend in. Then, back in the studio, sketch a composition to try to recreate this experience."
I was born in 1977, and I live and work in Seine-Saint-Denis. Filmmaker and photographer, I have worked in the field of social work for ten years.
Camargue Meltdown (5’)
Adrien Vullo – Fr
"In this composition, I sought to connect the recordings through the movements of sound. The air backgrounds, although difficult to blend, became essential to characterizing the takes. Omnipresent and continuous, they form the majority of the soundscape. Listening reveals a world where sound waves travel according to the air density, bouncing off buildings, birds, and dust, creating an uninterrupted sonic flow."
Born in the mining area in the early 1990s, I became interested in sonic environments during my civil engineering studies. In 2016, I founded ESITU Records and launched the Fragments project, a series of site-specific sound installations at the Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon) and the Coudenberg Palace (Brussels). I collaborate with the Centre Pompidou on multidisciplinary creations, including music for Giuseppe Penone's work and the video series Pioneers. In 2024, I co-directed a documentary-fiction series on the Seine with the Maison d'Architecture de Normandie. I am a curator and resident DJ on two independent radio stations exploring fiction, photography, and music.
Change of State (4’42)
Martin Sadoux - Fr
"Getting out of the water, leaving the white bubbling and hearing the first songs in the dunes, going into the hedges to listen to the rustlings and the soloists, then ending up in the conglomerations of nocturnal fervor."
I am a sound recordist for documentary and fiction films. Passionate about nature, I am now interested in audio-naturalism and field recording.
The Wind Whispers in the Hollows of the Water (5’08)
Ingrid Obled - Fr
"Using raw sound recordings, very close to the sources, and with the constraint of four hours of editing, I made landscapes coexist in different locations: aerial landscapes and underwater landscapes." Very different materials, yet their textures also echo each other, like a reminder that what seems different to our eyes is not necessarily so to our ears (and vice versa), and that in all things lies wholeness."
After training in double bass and electroacoustic composition until 2005, I experiment with sound and music in various forms for contemporary art, performance, and more. I like to open parallel spaces where the markers of time and place are erased to give way to an intimate and poetic universe, a timeless communion. I was a winner of the Musica Viva international composition competition in 2006. My piece "Si je regarde" (If I Look) was performed at the Franco-Portuguese Institute of Lisbon and released on the Miso Record label. In 2017, I created a solo for nyckelharpa (keyboard violin), double bass, and live looping. Its third installment, The Song of the Stellar Whales, has been touring for over two years in France, Switzerland, and Belgium… and in theaters as the opening act for the film Guardians of the Planet. An album will be released at the end of May 2025 by Art Mélodies.
