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TESTBED1, Battersea, London is pleased to present a multi media installation by the French artist Eléonore Pironneau.
The installation is comprised of her paintings and the musical works they inspired; ten well-known musicians and sound
artists have each created a musical composition inresponse to ten pictorial compositions by the artist.
The expression Change of Signature is borrowed from musical language and refers to the transposition of a melody from
one key to another. Eléonore Pironneau invited musicians, composers and sound designers to transpose her paintings
into their own musical language, creating an original and unique joint work, signed and submitted by both artists. The
ten musicians include Sarah Jane Morris, Antonio Forcione, Martyn Barker, Tony Remy, Lola Perrin, Martin A Smith,
Santiago Mantas, Ramuntcho Matta, Anne B and Jerry Granelli.
‘Having been involved with all sorts of musical projects in my career in France, and being at this moment Director of the French
equivalent of BBC 6 in my country, it is my opinion that “Change of Signature”, by the prominent artist Eléonore Pironneau, is one
of the most interesting, daring, and significant multimedia projects I have been able to contemplate these recent years.’ Patrice
Blanc-Francard
The paintings to be exhibited in Change of Signature are from Pironneau’s series of intimate small formats, which present
a world of floating forms. What they signify is left open to interpretation although their atmosphere is particularly musical.
Even though they could be read as recalling a world of sensation, perhaps of the psyche or of the organic world, for
Pironneau, they also evoke sound. The artist has established a vocabulary of visual forms that she uses as a poetic
language suggest music.
Pironneau says of her work,
‘Artists such as Paul Klee inspired me and brought about long periods of research experimenting with form as a language. My
latest work presents a world of evocative, reverberating forms. As much as they could be images revealed from the subconscious,
or imprecise emotions, these informal forms could just as well be sounds – sounds emerging from background melodies, basso
continuo, beats or the darkness of silence.’
The installation itself offers an unusual relationship with the artwork, asking the viewer to look and listen with equal
attention. Secluded and protected from any outside distraction, the installation allows the viewer to stay for several
minutes in intimate contact with the sensations and emotions suggested by each piece.
Change of Signature is supported by Wandsworth Council, London, and is part of the Wandsworth Arts Festival Fringe
2013 programme.
PARTICIPATING MUSICIANS
Martyn Barker is a percussionist and composer, who has recorded with Alain Bashung, Emilie Simon, Dominic Miller,
Bryan Ferry, World Party, Salif Keita, Juliette Greco, King Swamp, Ethan Johns, Sarah Jane Morris, Joseph Arthur,
Dominique Ane, Khaled, Ray Davies, Nizlopi, Pauline Croze, Nick Cave, Goldfrapp; he has performed with Marianne
Faithful, Justin Adams, Robert Plant, and many others. He has recently composed and produced an album called “Lamb
Henry” with Simon Edward and Calum MacColl. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/martyn-barker-mn0001183592 http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=30780122&ac=now
Anne B is a French singer and composer, who has spent the last 6 years in London where she has started singing under
her own name. She recorded a mini album, "Outremanche", for which she received the prize "French talent of the year" in
2009. She toured in the UK and opened for French artist Tété et Féfé at the French Institute. She played in Hyde Park for
the Exhibition Road Music Day in June 2012 just before going back to France. Anne B is currently working with English
songwriter Duncan Steer on a musical project called " the French pop dream", first single with 3 songs will be launched in
Great Britain in April 2013.
http://www.myspace.com/anne.b http://www.anneb.org/
Antonio Forcione Award winning guitarist-composer Antonio Forcione has shared the stage worldwide with some of
the world’s most accomplished musicians including Martin Taylor, Biréli Lagrène, Trilok Gurtu, Barnie Kessel, Rossana
Casale, Adriano Adewale, Andy Sheppard, Jason Rebello, Chano Dominguez, Soweto Gospel Choir, Larry Coryell,
Sarah Jane Morris, Dominic Miller and many more; double-billing with artists such as John McLaughlin, John Schoffield
and Leo Kotke. He breaks the mould of most conventional, popular guitar sounds, be it in the field of jazz, Spanish,
African, Brazilian or improvised music. His 17 albums have variously topped UK and international jazz charts. He has also
recorded a duo album with Charlie Haden and just released his last album “Sketches of Africa”.
charts. www.antonioforcione.com
Jerry Granelli Drummer/Composer/Professor/Sound Painter has enjoyed an incomparable career in music. The winner of
the last NEA Grant awarded ascended from playing with the great pianist Vince Guaraldi while simultaneously exploring
Free Jazz on San Francisco’s thriving after hours sets in the early `60s to establishing academic arts curriculums to
perpetuate alternative musical forms such as Spontaneous Composition in the present. A pioneer of `60s psychedelic
sounds, a sideman on a Top 5 pop hit and a session musician for Sly Stone, Jerry has also played with such artists as
Jimmy Witherspoon, Mose Allison, Bill Evans, Lou Rawls, John Handy, Sonny Stitt, Ornette Coleman, the Grateful Dead,
etc. Granelli is a forward thinking master in the art of music. Since the late `80s, he has recorded over 20 albums as a
leader and/or soloist…in jazz and the indefinable beyond. “I started painting in the late `60s,” he shares. “Fred Marshall
was an artist. He’d make a charcoal drawing then ask, ‘Can you play that?’ So I started. I can tell when I’m about to write
music because I start painting…Peter Voulkos was a great American potter who made bronze sculptures like the one in
front of the Hall of Justice in San Francisco in the early `70s. I would play them. Later in the `90s, a blacksmith named
John Little created sound sculptures –beautiful structures yet made with musical intent. I did a record playing them called
Iron Sky.” http://www.jerrygranelli.com/site/
Santiago Mantas was born in London and began composing piano pieces, orchestral and chamber music at the age of
ten. He studied at London's Trinity College of Music, the Cologne Hochschule and the Vienna Academy. His compositions
are frequently performed worldwide and are internationally used for feature films, documentaries and advertisements.
His recent commission for production music from Studio G was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a
pianist and conductor, he performs his own works at concerts and music festivals. http://vimeo.com/14344536 and http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=56QzUPh65rw
Ramuntcho Matta practices sound, video and drawing. He composed 23 solo albums, worked on 20 other CDs in jazz,
rock, experimental music, underground and world music. Son of the Chilean painter Roberto Matta, Ramuntcho has an
intimate understanding of art, and the relationship between visual art and music. He has worked, amidst others, with Brion
Gysin, Don Cherry, Chris Marker, Robert Wilson… His researches revolve around concepts such as doubt and chance,
instinct and creation, trace and transmission Ramuntcho has created two centres devoted to research, production and
exhibition in the fields of visual art and sound / music: SometimeStudios, in the Marais, Paris, and Lizières about 80km
from Paris. http://www.deezer.com/en/artist/895624
Sarah Jane Morris is an accomplished writer, composer and performer. Famed for her association with the Communards
in the mid-80s she has always attracted as much attention for her politics as for her soul-driven, seismic voice. Twelve
solo albums later, pop stardom on the continent, and a diverse set of musical collaborations on record, film and stage,
Morris continues to steer her unorthodox career to greater heights. She regularly plays and collaborate with Dominic
Miller (Sting), Tony Remy (Annie Lenox), Martyn Barker (Alain Bashung, Marianne Faithful), Marc Ribot (Tom Waits),
Ian Shaw, Antonio Forcione, etc. In 2008 Sarah Jane played Mere Ubu at Queen Elizabeth Hall to David Thomas's
Pere Ubu in the opera Bring me the head of Ubu Roi. Sarah Jane recently recorded an album with 14 cellos in Rome,
as a collaboration with Enrico Melozzi, performed in Novembre 2012 at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre. http://
www.sarahjanemorris.co.uk/ http://www.ramuntchomatta.com/
Lola Perrin is a composer, pianist, publisher, a contributor to International Piano magazine, blogger, Composer/Teacher
in Residence Markson Pianos, and creator of the Lola Perrin Naim Audio Piano Competition. She has played live and
been interviewed on radio including Jazz Line Up, Science Matters local BBC, appeared at First International Conference
of Minimalism in Music. Extensively performed her 8 piano suites, miscellaneous works for solo, and multiple pianos.
Silent film scores: the Birds Eye View Festival commissioned score for Victor Sjöström's 'The Wind' won Silent London's
Best Silent Film Soundtrack. Piano works have been taken up by students at Conservatoire Chopin Paris, University of
Wolverhampton, LCCM, University of Frankfurt. "Her Sisters' Notebook" (for ten bass clarinets) using fragments from
Kassia and created from the structure in David Oates' painting Kiss 19, commissioned by Sarah Watts, premiered at
Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival. Kevin Robert Orr (USA) added Perrin's Piano Suite V to his repertoire,
performed in Slovenia July 2012. Collaborators include Mihir Bose, Sue Hubbard. http://www.lolaperrin.com/
Tony Rémy is a guitarist of Caribbean origin, born in the UK. His musical experience spans across many genres. Most
noted for his ability to effortlessly glide from subtle acoustic tones to aggressive commanding rock. Tony's credits include
writing the movie scores for the film "Passion of Remembrance" directed by Isaac Julian, the documentary "Looking for
Langston", the main theme for BBC series "Baby Father", and the score for the film "Career Girls" directed by Mike Leigh.
He has worked and recorded with many diverse artists namely: Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, The Jazz Crusaders, Steps
Ahead, Courtney Pine, Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock, Craig David, Tom Jones. Plus many more. Tony is currently
finishing his 7th solo album entitled In the Middle of Before and After. http://www.tonyremy.com/
Martin A Smith is a composer and artist whose work is concerned with the creation of atmosphere rather than of form,
melody or rhythm, of creating an environment through subtle and harmonious changes rather than through force. He has
created installations for The Royal Borough Of Kensington and Chelsea, The Victoria And Albert Museum, The British
Council, GV Art Gallery, SoundFjord, the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, The English Folk Dance And
Song Society, The Muse, Cinetrip in Budapest and The Museum Of Domestic Design And Architecture amongst others
and has performed live at many venues in Britain and Europe. He has written the music for film, television, theatre and
contemporary dance and is currently working on a series of portraits in sound. http://www.martinasmith.co.uk/
TESTBED1,33, Parkgate Road, Battersea, London, SW11 4NP
