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Kinetics for cello and piano (2008/2010)

Article by Bernard de Vienne: George Folmer with regard to music

In 2 movements: Space - Measure

Total duration: approx. 14'30 (8'30 and 6')

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​ The painter George Folmer worked on the synthesis of the arts within the Espace group and then with the Mesure group , which he founded in 1960.

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From kinetic art - an expression adopted around 1954 to designate the artistic current based on the aesthetics of movement - I like these sculptures where we use mobile elements made up of wires and metal parts that are set in motion by displacement of ambient air, wind, spectators and/or a motorized mechanism. The 1910s saw the birth of the first manifestations of kinetic art in the Futurist movement and certain works by Marcel Duchamp, then later with Alexandre Calder. These same years saw the birth of constructivism, this important current of abstraction which developed on the basis of cubism and futurism using exclusively geometric elements such as the circle, the rectangle or the straight line. This current is not limited to the plastic arts; it also implies adherence to the evolution of modern technology and encompasses all areas of existence: architecture, fashion, design. From 1951 to 1970, constructivist aesthetics saw the emergence of 2 artistic groups: the space and measure groups, which extended the research of their elders at the beginning of the century.

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The 1st Space movement is an explicit reference to kinetic art and Calder's motives. These have always fascinated me because of their size, their poetry and Calder's ability to anticipate the different positions and projected shadows of his moving sculptures which, perceived from any angle whatsoever, always turn out to be interesting. Like a mobile, Espace is therefore based on continual movement, the incessant change of register, space, timbres, proportions, density... each return of motifs in different musical contexts is then perceived, not as a repetition of the same, but as a continuous transformation of the same basic material.

 

The 2nd movement Measure is the antithesis of Espace. This is an explicit reference to constructivist art. The writing - whose dense and sustained intensity is a motif in its own right - is characterized by frank, implacable, hard, sharp lines of force, without concession to any lyricism. The architectural and geometric design of the sound space is thought out in blocks, flat areas, violent contrasts. We can see, among other things, a reference to the work of Lucien Hervé, the official photographer of the architect Le Corbusier.

 

By bringing together in the same work the spirit of these 2 founding poles of 20th century art, I wanted by antithesis to show that poetic fragility and geometric abstraction are linked beyond their differences. These are the two contradictory aspects of our sensitivity and our relationship to the world.

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