dichtung-digital: Paris Connection

Jean-Jacques Birgé has worked extensively with Antoine Schmitt, Frédéric Durieu, and Nicolas Clauss. He is a musician and sound designer/producer of success and even renown in his own right. He creates the sound in many of the works of these artists. But he is also active with them in the wider design of the works, often; they collaborate with him, rather than just having him create the sound files.

He is a bit older than the others and, having been active in many media for years, brings wide experience and a wealth of sound design experience and knowledge to the work. In the interview below, we glimpse his passion and intelligence in what he brings to this group of artists.

He is not an artist-programmer, does not do Director work, but he is nonetheless influential in the group not only via his sound work but also his leadership as an artist and person. They all speak of him as a friend and speak warmly of him. They listen to him, and I note that his comments about the artists, below, are congruent with the impressions that I had gleaned otherwise from looking at their work and corresponding with them.

He also introduced some of them to one another and hosts get-togethers at his home. He is very active in the biz, and probably they network considerably in this regard. Lots of work for Birgé, and lots of work for all of them, it seems, in Paris both as serious artists and in more commercially constraining work—also, it seems like they have hardly 'rolled over' to commercial work but instead are intent on providing those who commission them with something superior.

I had originally intended to just focus on the artists using Director in these interviews/profiles. Nicolas Clauss urged me to contact Birgé. And, having corresponded with him and looked/listened more closely to the range of work he collaborates with them on, I see that what we are looking at in Paris is not just the artist-programmer taking it to the web with great strength, but allowing others into it as well, and giving them the full range of their powers in real collaboration. A strong bond of hands and vision stretching through the arts into science and technology.

It would have been inaccurate to leave Jean-Jacques Birgé out of an attempt to convey what is going on with this group.

published on dichtung-digital 2/2003, February 2003