Nuits Sonores Countdown: Meet Trafik

After an extended weekend spent beneath Coachella’s scorching sun, where the first works to come out of The Studio—unseen stage designs and unexpected collaborations—were unveiled, The Creators Project crosses the Atlantic to take up residence in sunny France. Bienvenue.

Located right between Paris and the French Riviera is Lyon, a charming French city we’ll be venturing to next week for Nuits sonores. The electronic music and contemporary art festival has been transforming the “Capitale des Gaules” into an open air concert venue since 2002, taking over Lyon’s most symbolic sights, museums, city hall, and even its industrial wastelands and popular neighborhoods to provide the backdrop for one of the most exciting music festivals in Europe. We, of course, had no choice but to team up with them.

Over the course of the festival’s four days, we’ll be displaying exclusive artworks, installations, and films from all over the world, as well as round table discussions and panels, among other things. You can find more information on our partnership with Nuits Sonores here, where we’ll be updating you shortly with more details regarding the program.

While we count down to the festival’s opening night, we’ll be giving you an overview of some of the artists who we’ve teamed up with to revolutionize this year’s festival experience with a wide range of technologically avant-garde artwork. To get us in the mood, let’s start local with Lyon-based Trafik, one of the latest additions to our community of French Creators.

Trafik is a young graphic design and multimedia agency which began in 1998 and brings together a range of talent, digital artists, design maestros and web or communication specialists. Trafik, comprised of Pierre Rodière, Julien Sappa and Joël Rodière, works on interactive and multidisciplinary projects. Their work is made up of graphic design and visual identity conceptions, and scenographic and digital installations using state of the art technology for institutions, brands or cultural events.

TRAFIK AND NUITS SONORES

It’s the third time that Trafik has been invited to make use of the space at Nuits sonores. In 2009, they presented Saturday Light (above) a giant multimedia installation in a Lyon hangar. The proposal was based on a dreamlike airport or illegal techno club, pitching the collaboration somewhere between Trafik and the festival.

In 2010, Trafik presented Gold (below), a light installation made up of a row of lit columns that followed and accompanied the festival-goers movements.

MUSEOGAMES

MUSEOGAMES

Last year, Trafik collaborated with the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, taking care of the Museogames communications and scenography, a retrospective exhibition dedicated to history, esthetics and social impact of video games.

MONDKOPF + TRAFIK

Trafik recently collaborated with the French DJ and electronic music producer Mondkopf to work on the visuals for his new live show. We discovered this audiovisual performance last February, during the Gaité Lyrique’s week of inaugural events. The minimalist and expressionist visuals, made up of moving geometric shapes and a reduced chromatic color palette underline and set apart this young musician’s repetitive and enchanting productions. The combination of sound and image was truly hypnotic and set the mood at a frenzied fever pitch, despite it being only 8:00 P.M.

TRAFIK AT NUITS SONORES/THE CREATORS PROJECT 2011

For this year’s festival, Trafik has created a brand new interactive piece. 72 is a luminous installation that, once in place, composes graphic and visual perspectives that blur our perception of volume. Composed of six square modules, each containing 12 LEDs, the moving lights form different graphic and visual patterns, altering viewers' perceptions of the structure's volume. The viewer can also play with the light using an iPhone or touch tablet to create effects of depth and space.

The installation will be at the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Lyon from the 1st of June. Until then, stay tuned for more info and insight about the artists and the works that will make up The Creators Project’s program at Nuits Sonores.

À bientôt.

All photos courtesy of Trafik 2011.