SIDE A
SIDE B
Solid State Forces aims to explore the complex relationships between mining sites and the development of new technologies – in this case, coal. The driving force behind the Industrial Revolution, coal mining also marked a turning point in the history of listening, with the invention of the coal microphone around 1870. While the mining of this resource is gradually dying out in Europe, it leaves behind territories that have been profoundly transformed, both environmentally and ecologically, as well as socio-economically. What has become of these places? What memories remain?
To examine these transformations, I took sound recordings at various mining sites across France, Belgium, Germany and Poland. These included slag heaps, reconverted wastelands and still-active mines. By moving through these spaces and using a wide variety of microphones (piezoelectric, geophone, DPA, hydrophone, aerial, electromagnetic), the intention was to capture their sonic expressions and record, at different scales, the forces that inhabit them – be they geological, human, animal or electromagnetic.
The collection of these recordings then led to the creation of a sound library, from which I composed two sound pieces lasting around 13 minutes, to be pressed on vinyl in September 2025. These compositions were then deconstructed and reintegrated into the multi-channel sound installation, in a fragmented and evolving form.
This installation brings together several sound devices, all controlled by the same archive. Among these objects – loudspeakers, megaphones, mining relics and brass band instruments – an acousmonium is formed, playing shifting compositions. These are not static: they weave into one another, activating electrical intensity, mechanical movement and pneumatic force.
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Production Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, 2025