A Cryptic commission premiered during the Sonica festival in September 2024 in Tramway, Glasgow, UK.

La nuit dorée is an audio-visual project developed during the residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. It is based on instrumental pieces and songs inspired by the ambiance of 1960s French cinema and its vibrant musical landscape. Visually, it explores archival materials of the era, particularly film and fashion, combined with my experiment with painting, film, photography, and text. Employing my favourite technique of collage, I created an audio-visual, retro sci-fi portrait of night life in Paris of the 1960s.

I have been collaging visual fragments of that era—captured in celluloid reels, haute couture, and archival treasures—with a purpose to build my time machine, a refuge from time’s relentless march, where permanence reigns supreme, and never waves goodbye. I purposely selected the fragments shot at night and mixed them with snapshots of my night walks around Paris during my year long residency at Cité internationale des arts in the quartier of Marais. I also filmed the streets at night and recorded the sounds of music I could hear bouncing off the river Seine, including a river party playing Edith Piaf as well as Celine Dion’s voice audible from my window during the opening night of 2024 Paris Olympics.

I produced a collection of upbeat, and melancholic but opulent pieces while deconstructing proven arrangements of iconic 1960s figures such as Dalida, Serge Gainsbourg, and Michel Legrand. From masterpieces like N’écoute pas les idoles! arranged by Serge Gainsbourg to songs performed by Zouzou, Chantal Goya, Claude Anne Lander’s Pleurez, criez, chantez, Katty Line’s Ne fais pas la tête, and Cléo’s Les fauves – I excavated and analysed melodies, instrumentation, vocal styles, and production techniques.

The lyrics are in French juxtaposed with fragments of poems by Verlaine, Mallarmé and Jacques Prévert. I also used AI to animate some archival photographs.

This project extends my interest in the subject of origin and originality in the digital era, reflecting our contemporary “landscape.” Paying tribute to masterful song arrangements, which dominated my musical upbringing, my focus centres on the interplay of memory and the nuanced concept of originality. I aim to offer listeners a blend of familiarity, comfort, and novelty. While fascinated by abstract structures, I consistently infuse catchy melodies within them. Ultimately, my goal is to craft music that is contemporary yet hummable in everyday situations, such as in the kitchen or during a shower.

Both film, music and fashion of 1960s left an indelible mark on my artistic sensibilities. The goal of La nuit dorée is to reconstruct or fabricate a visual musical realm based on fragmented memories, thus crafting new experiences that evoke the past as a sanctuary.