SOUNDTRACKS - HYPER DUO

The constant overstimulation caused by social media sends us on a dopamine rollercoaster, constantly craving more. The comparison with drug abuse is obvious. Our ultra-digitalised lives, with their constant flood of images and information, lead us away from the experience of reality. Pierre Jodlowsky, a French composer, addresses this state of affairs, but does not stop at merely calling for greater mindfulness. Hallucinations are even more real than ordinary reality, according to the poet and painter Henri Michaux (1899-1984). His experiments with psychotropic substances revealed alternatives to him which, once experienced, he could never forget. Hallucination, according to Michaux, corresponds flawlessly with the ‘inner’ image – it is ‘synergistic, synthetic and whole’. So what remains of what we consider reality when we lose ourselves in digital worlds – or stimulate our brains with substances? Jodlowsky has developed a fast-paced multimedia piece with the Swiss HYPER DUO: Limbus. A large screen behind the stage serves as a portal to another world. In this world, Gilles Grimaître (piano, synthesizer) and Julien Mégroz (percussion, electronics) experience a surreal road trip with car races, hunting scenes in the forest, a dangerous tattoo artist and terrifying creatures. In the process, their identities are also transformed. Soon, the separation between the worlds breaks down, stage and screen contaminate each other, and the audience is invited to put on sleep masks to experience collective auditory hallucinations.
Pierre Jodlowski: Limbus for keyboards, percussion, video, scenography, lighting and electronics (2023), 60’ Gilles Grimaître, keyboards and performance Julien Mégroz, percussion and performance Pierre Jodlowski, concept, video, lighting, staging Matthieu Guillin, sound projection