Could you tell us about your background and organisation, the AnA Company? 

I’m a musician, I started out with lyrical singing and electroacoustics, working extensively with the contemporary vocal repertoire. I then discovered synthesisers and started experimental music creation around 2008. In 2010, I founded the company AnA, based in Lozère where I live, which is dedicated to exploratory music and immersive forms. Its main focus is composition based on electronic sound generation and new technologies. Several projects came into being and in 2021, I invited musician Nadia Ratsimandresy to run the company with me. Over the years, we have built strong relationships with artists such as Marc Siffert, Sandrine Cnudde, Alexandra Radulescu, Alexis Forestier and Michel Simonot. I then started making performances with video, like Matrice, then Vaisseaux, before meeting Hugo Arcier. After our first creation, Overview, which is still running, we embarked on the show inLAND. 

Could you tell us about the production of inLAND? How was it developed? What can we expect to see on stage? 

It is an audiovisual performance, with a video game component and musicians on stage, masking the “audiovisual” genre, with the idea of being above all the conduits for the world we offer to see and hear. With Marc Siffert, we are working with electronic sound generators, with the aim of opening the doors to a meta-universe. It’s an immersive piece, quiet and harsh, with strong sound physicality. Hugo Arcier, also live on stage, plays the audio-responsive video game he created for inLAND and whose passages he knows best. It’s an experience that we don't emerge from unscathed, but we have a lot of fun taking part in. 

inLAND invites us to wander through different scenery, sometimes human or architectural. What themes are you seeking to address through this work? 

Initially, the project was called Styx, referring to the river of Hell. I fell very ill when the project came to life, and I wanted to work on the notions of transience: between life and death, sleep and awakening, real and virtual, figurative and abstract. In my view, the idea of death is something very metaphysical, philosophical, which illuminates the idea of life and gives it meaning. The world in which we live today is very morbid, but paradoxically it dispels all notions of age, death and impermanence as if they were taboos. During my illness, I came close to experiencing this terrifying transition, which is almost incommunicable, but can be expressed through images and music. What happens here is at the boundary of fear and wonder, a form of knowledge that has nothing to do with intellect and reason. Styx eventually became inLAND, and is focused on this idea of crossing between worlds. So on stage, we act as guides, like Charon. 

How did you work with Marc Siffert and Hugo Arcier? How does music work with video games here?

I asked Hugo Arcier to work on the transitions between the abstract and figurative. He has adapted this notion through the prism of video games. He created a world where he moves and changes levels thanks to a cube symbolising the place of passage, which also provides the architecture of the work. Personally, I came to digital quite late, and it’s an aesthetic that speaks to me a lot. Initially, inLAND had to be based on a visual creation that was simply audio-responsive, but ultimately Hugo Arcier wanted to create a video game, and to be on stage with Marc Siffert and me to play it. It was the beginning of a creative process that involved a lot of discussion. All three of us thought a lot about the concept of space, wandering, and how it could be articulated between the sound and visual dimensions. What I really liked about Hugo’s proposal is that when the internet connection is good enough, you can also play on the online streaming platform Twitch, which creates even more porosity between the artistic and video game worlds. 

You presented this creation in Mexico, as part of MUTEK and with the support of the Institut français of Latin America. This invitation came in particular following your participation in the FOCUS Digital Arts organised by the Institut français in May 2023. Can you tell us more?

It was very exciting to be able to play MUTEK, it’s a big festival with lots of good artists. We were very well received. With inLAND , there is great sound physicality and the image is powerful, so it’s great to be able to play in large spaces. This was the case at MUTEK, with a great space and high-quality technical facilities. Hugo couldn't come, so he played from Paris, which was quite an exciting experience since we could play remotely, with an image that is audio responsive and therefore requires an excellent connection. I think it’s quite incredible to be able to connect continents through an audiovisual work, with an audience that has been very responsive. It was an evening with nearly 20 performances and 3,500 people in the audience. They reacted a lot during the performance, and showed a lot of enthusiasm. 

On 8 November 2023, you were also at the Institut français of Casablanca as part of the Festival International d'Art Vidéo in Casablanca.

This project was made possible thanks to support from the Institut français, through the IFExport programme, which helped us to fund transport and hospitality on site. This allowed us to visit the Institut français of Casablanca, a very beautiful place and very well equipped. The technical team allowed us to perform under excellent conditions. 

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

inLAND will become a musical duo, Marc Siffert and I, with input from Hugo for visuals. Over the next two years, we will create a new piece called Unexpected, where we showcase the unexpected, sudden and joyful in response to a suffering world.

Other pieces will be created in 2024–25, including Ars Natura, again with Hugo Arcier for the visuals, lights by Rima Ben Brahim and me doing the music, as well as a new audiovisual piece with Alexandra Radulescu, Vain, the second part of Krasis.