hyperballad
Participatory electroacoustic sound walk for public space
HYPERBALLAD is a site-specific electroacoustic creation designed for public space.
It takes the form of a participatory sound walk that can adapt to a wide range of environments — urban, natural or industrial — transforming non-artistic locations into shared listening landscapes.
The project is based on a custom-built 8-channel audio player developed in collaboration with Kogumi, connected to eight FM transmitters broadcasting on separate frequencies. The system is autonomous, battery-powered and portable. Each audio channel can be independently processed, allowing for layered, evolving sound textures distributed across the space.
A park of portable FM radios receives the broadcasts. Participants carry the radios as they move through the site, transporting the sound within the collective space. As bodies move, the sonic balance continuously shifts: the composition becomes mobile, collective and unpredictable. From the outside, the audience forms a moving group of performers, creating a form of sound choreography in the public realm.
Each iteration of HYPERBALLAD is closely linked to its host site. Local sound recordings — voices, architectural resonances, environmental textures — feed the electroacoustic composition, while the acoustic topology of the place shapes the route and listening dramaturgy.
The project relies on a light technical setup and strong local involvement. Volunteers, residents, students or members of the hosting team can take part in the preparation, activation and mediation of the walk, turning the work into a shared experience rather than a fixed performance.
By using the radio — a familiar domestic object — as its primary medium, HYPERBALLAD moves electroacoustic music outside institutional contexts. It proposes a non-spectacular, collective form of listening, where public space becomes the site of a common, open and embodied sonic experience.
Conceived as a nomadic project, HYPERBALLAD can be activated in different territories and repeated over time. Each version may generate a sound edition or record, produced in collaboration with Carton Records, archiving the acoustic memory of the places encountered.
HYPERBALLAD is an invitation to listen differently to the spaces we inhabit — together.
As a laureate of the a/CNCM network, HYPERBALLAD enters a new phase of development leading to its creation in spring 2027.
This period will be dedicated to the construction of the diffusion device, studio composition, and the development of collective performance protocols.
The project will be developed through a series of research and production residencies with artistic and technical partners, Kogümi and Les harmoniques du Néon.
The spring 2027 creation will mark the first full in situ activation of the work in public space.
This phase aims to consolidate HYPERBALLAD as a nomadic, participatory and accessible electroacoustic project, designed to be reactivated across different territories.