For a helter skelter rain is an envi­ron­mental con­cert by Lauren Tortil that takes place along the Canal Saint-Martin, blending in with the polyphony of the city. Through a suc­ces­sion of scat­tered sound appari­tions – ship horns, sax­o­phone, voices... – per­formed from the docks by accom­plices and com­posed to echo the canal’s sound­scape, this per­for­mance is an invi­ta­tion to thwart our per­cep­tions and decentre our senses. Aboard the Arletty or from the docks, listen care­fully and let your­self be sur­prised by every­thing that hap­pens beneath the sur­face of the audible. Along the water, over the course of an after­noon, the expe­ri­ence un-folds in a sin­gular lis­tening con­text to col­lec­tively exer­cise our atten­tion to the urban envi­ron­ment. The score for this con­cert is inspired by an extract from Virginia Woolf’s Diary, in which she describes the impact of rain on a pond. Like an ini­ti­a­tion rite, this com­po­si­tion sounds like a call for rain.

With the com­plicity of the res­i­dent sailors of the Port de l’Arsenal and the Halte de la Villette, Pierre Thévenin (sax­o­phonist), Claire Serres with the Sirène Song choir, Aymeric de Tapol (com­poser), Jérémy Barrault (graphic designer) and Simon Ripoll-Hurier (video recording).

This per­for­mance is part of the Bétonsalon "Sunbathed ears" pro­gramme, sup­ported by the Drac Île-de-France, on the occa­sion of the Odyssée with Petit Bain and the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2023. It is co-pro­duced with *Duuu radio as part of the Artistes et Sportifs Associés de la Ville de Paris 2023 pro­gram, and in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Canauxrama. Lauren Tortil received sup­port from ADAGP for the recording.

More information on the event can be found here.