FLOATING SOUND GALLERY

Vienna

Virginie Viel

Virginie Viel is an electroacoustic composer. She started her artistic carreer as visual artist, practicing photography and video and creating audiovisual installations. In 2008, she obtains a MA in Visual Communication at the École des beaux-arts de Caen (France). In 2014, she obtains a MA in Acousmatic and Electroacoustic Composition at the Conservatoire royal de Mons / Arts2 (Royal Conservatory of Mons / Arts2), Belgium). Since 2014, she is a researcher at De Montfort University in Leicester (UK). Her research investigates the relationships between acousmatic composition and visual acomposition. She is part of Séneçon, a collective of composers based in Brussels (Belgium). She has collaborated with various artists and composers on audiovisual projects in Europe. Her acousmatic pieces have been presented in Europe, Canada, Mexico, USA, and Australia. In June 2016, by invitation of Robert Normandeau, she was composer in residence at the Faculté de musique of the Université de Montréal (Québec) where she composed Uni-vers(e). In Autumn 2016, she has pursued a part of her research at the Ionian University in Corfu (Greece) with support from Erasmus+.

The stones can speak, 2018, 9’ 26’’

acousmatic music – stereo

This piece has been composed with sounds recorded at the VICC (Visby International Centre for Composers) in 2017 and commissioned by Dante Tanzi to participate to the CD obsAUDIOR5 Awakenings. The piece refers to the legend of the Dame Blanche of Tonneville in Normandy. It is said that the ghost of a young woman dressed all white appears sometimes in the area of Tonneville to mislead travellers…
I also thank Sten Melin and Jesper Elen of the VICC for their warm welcome in Visby.

“On Sundays, hidden by the shadow of the Moon,
She perpetuates a ritual that never comes to an end…
Again and again… she wakes up without a body
And warn all creatures that time will come…
We wish soon, they respond
And she replies later,
But as time goes by, they are all gone…”