Micro-residencies Report: Topographies Sonores
As part of La Semaine du Son, GMEA offered a creative micro-residency to a group of 12 young international artists. The group was invited to collectively develop listening devices in the public space of the city of Albi. At the end of the residency, they presented their work at several places in the city.
Emilia Elouardi & hany tea - Echoes in the Bamboo Grove
Echoes in the Bamboo Grove - Échos dans la Bambouseraie is a topographic prototype by Emilia Elouardi and hany tea weaving together sonic collective memory and lost voices from the city of Albi and its surroundings. Inspired by the idea of storing memory in plants - especially the swaying bamboo and the absorbent moss - this bilingual soundwalk reflects upon nature's sonic or visual properties and their connection to personal and collective memory. Seven geo-localised sound compositions interlace spoken word with collected sonic material: Occitan and Cathar chants, lullabies and poetry, field recordings from the grove, sounds from the diaspora present in Albi, and archives from Radio Albigés. As listeners move through the bamboo grove, they are guided into their own, perhaps long-lost, memories. Participants are invited to contribute intimately - storing traces in the trees and the water, allowing an alternate collective memory to take root and flourish. A booklet accompanies the journey, marking the seven stations of this sonic walk.
https://refugeworldwide.com/artists/hany-tea
Isul Kim - Pont View
Pont View is a sound intervention based on mistranslation; the mistranslation of a foreigner to the local language serving as a base for inspection. Pont Vieux, the old bridge that stands monumental to the city’s heritage, became the site for this interactive sound installation. An ambisonic microphone is streaming the everpresent sound of white noise from the river dam to an online platform where visitors can access through their mobile phones. The position of the visitor to the microphone and the movement of the visitors in space is transforming the sounds from their phone speakers into a gradual feedback, the delay and timbre unique to the phone built and internet provider.
Though the sound experiment had to commence indoors because of the rain, what was intended was a feedback orchestra with multiple people activating their phones in space while looking onto the historic view-point of Pont Vieux.
elif gülin soğuksu - Enter the inner voice
Poetics of Commute is an invitation to an inner soliloquy reecting upon author’s poetic relevance of being in transit—focuses on the experience as a passenger in a public transportation as an everyday mundane activity that can be a transformative experience of lived moment, memories, and that can transform the mind's navigation through an innite number of paths, real or imagined, metaphysical or literal.
The audio shuttle bus trip is a form of audio walk that is conceptualized sight-specically for the city of Albi in France during the micro-residency Topographies Sonores. The passengers are expected to take the shuttle bus from the bus stop at Lices Pompidou and listen to the given track throughout the journey and enter the realm of the author's train of thoughts.
Qusay Awad
During my residency in Albi, I explored the intersections of sound, space, and memory through the city’s acoustic landscapes. From the medieval streets and the resonant bridges over the Tarn to the industrial hum of the hydroelectric plant, I mapped how different environments shape sonic experiences. My focus was on field recording, sound mapping, and audiovisual experimentation, capturing contrasts between stillness and movement, past and present, silence and noise.
I also engaged with the Departmental Archives of Tarn, the Occitan cultural center, and Radio Albigés, uncovering narratives of migration, language, and fading sonic identities. My prototype took form as an audiovisual composition, blending field recordings, spectral analysis, and video to reveal the city’s hidden sonic layers.
https://qusayawad.myportfolio.com/about
Leo Van Damme
During this residency, I worked around the white noise that was noticeable within much of the city due to the presence of a dam. In one specific location, in the shadow of the cathedral, the white noise was present in such a way that it seemed to amplify the peacefulness of the location. From this observation, I made an attempt to artificially mimic this white noise and play it back at this location. The natural white noise interacts with my artificial white noise. I tried to amplify, in an almost imperceptible way, the atmosphere that was present.
In addition to amplifying the already present atmosphere, I sought to introduce other artificial sounds. Sounds that are not directly associated with this specific location but could potentially harmonize by creating associations with other natural sounds, such as those of birds, passersby, or the construction work on the bridge.
Through these additions, I explore how the natural environment responds to my public interventions. I aim to create a subtle, almost imperceptible musicality in the public space, which might only become noticeable upon conscious awareness.
Rita Santos
The sound of a city, in its fundamental formation, is similar across all places. What differentiates one city's soundscape from another is its geography, its population, and the technology its inhabitants use. As both a phenomenon and a quality of becoming, sound emerges from the movement of objects and beings on the planet’s surface, shaping the auditory identity of a given space. Thus, we can say that each city (or place) has multiple soundscapes dispersed across its neighborhoods—sometimes resembling one another, sometimes entirely distinct. By physically bringing together recorded (or memorized) sounds from different parts of a city, we can conceive of a sonic imprint that constitutes an identity. With this site-specific installation, I aim to explore the interplay between the natural and the material. Harnessing the forces of wind and water, this sculpture will incorporate stones, bamboo, glass, and other natural materials, allowing them to resonate with one another—much like a deconstructed water or windmill. The temporary suspension of an object grants hearing access to the knowledge it reveals. However, the production and propagation of sound—occurring between its source and our perception—are intrinsic to the phenomenon itself.
Agita Reke - For a short time I disappeared
For a short time I disappeared (2025) is a prototype for a site-specific sound installation.
"La Muse Consolatrice Rêve de Poète" is a sculpture located in Albi, created by sculptor Jean Jules Pendariès (1862-1933). The tension and synergy between the marble figures of the lovers captivated my attention, prompting me to explore it further. By using a contrast between the visual and the sonic, I sought to delve into the limits of perception within the natural environment, aiming to establish a connection between new sounds and older forms of artwork. In doing so, I aimed to explore the relationship between the sculpture and the sound source, and technology. This exploration not only influences the sounds of a given place but also shapes how individuals perceive the acoustic space around them, and perception of the sculpture itself. I also extended this exploration into an audiovisual work, which remains a work in progress. The text for the soundtrack is taken from the poetry of Claire Malroux (1925-).
Jacob Eckhardt & Isul Kim - Radio Cloister
An open feedback network of FM transmitters and transistor radios were arranged around Saint Salvi cloister garden in the old town of Albi. The site was chosen for its public yet secluded, natural environment with unique acoustic characteristics where urban sounds entered, creating a condensed sound montage of the city – the sounds of schoolkids, wind, cars, pigeons, bells, the church choir all melting into one space. The spatial installation served as an open air radio, amplifying the site’s soundscape with open microphones and drawing into it a charged sonic-field coloured by feedback, radio on air, and playback of local music discovered during the residency period.
The project is intended to be a site-specific installation and public intervention, broadcasting urban sounds live on the radio. The recordings made at the cloister garden are intended for broadcast on the local radio station, Radio Albige (https://www.radioalbiges.com).
A collaboration of Jacob Eckhardt and Isul Kim.
Ana Kulak
@kulak.ana
Flurina Mia - Observation intervention
Prototype for a Mobile Installation for Smartphone, Laptop, Videocamera and Bluetooth speaker for Albi, France, 6'
The prototype, a mobile installation called - observation intervention - is about my personal perception of the beautiful city of Albi (FR) as an outsider and observer, strolling, wandering, watching, and listening to Albi. I wanted to give back the things I’ve looked at and listened to.
This prototype of a mobile installation has been developed throughout the Microresidency of GMEA and been shown at the TOPOGRAPHIES SONORES Festival 2025 in Albi.
Merlin Tessier
