PHILTRES
STEPHANIE CASTONGUAY
PHILTRES is a sound installation that explores the possibilities of expanded listening. Variations in light are translated into sound, forming a constantly shifting soundscape.
DIY devices made from recycled and organic materials, such as bioplastics, filter and modulate the light. The resulting play of shadows and reflections links what we see to what we hear. Visitors become “living antennas,” attuned to the signals that emerge from their presence and their relationship with the installation.
Rooted in an ecofeminist approach, PHILTRES opens a sensory space between perception and intuition and evokes forms of communication beyond language. Like a potion, the installation shifts our relationship to reality by inviting us to perceive what usually eludes our senses.
Stephanie Castonguay works at the intersection of sound art, electronics and bioart, with a DIY approach grounded in experimentation. From an ecofeminist perspective, they favour a hands-on practice that repurposes obsolete technologies to draw out unexpected sounds. Bio-composite discs, modified turntables, recycled scanner heads: their devices translate materiality into a decomposing graphic notation, linking the analog intelligence of touch to our intimate relationship with impermanence.
Their work has been presented at FIMAV (Victoriaville), iii (The Hague), Avatar-MUTEK (Montreal), STEIM (Amsterdam), Tsonami (Valparaíso), LAB30 (Augsburg), Klangmanifeste (Vienna), IKLECTIK (London), Les Instants chavirés (Paris), Liebig12 (Berlin) and the Biennale Internationale du son (Le Mans), among others.
Collaborators
Anne Thériault: choreographer, performer
Amélie Rajotte: outside eye
Noée Noviant: 3D design and spatial layout
Residency: Sporobole
Creation grant: Conseil des arts de Montréal
Thanks: Perte de Signal
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