Private Project

POPULATE

Peupler is an immersive room, made up of interactive projection, real time generated visuals, and olfactory immersion. This artwork invites people to experience the world through the point of view of a tree and recenter our anthropocentric worldview.
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Every living thing is part of a population and populates the world in its own way. We should look forward to a future in which humans populates respecting all life forms.

Populating is the way to occupy space. To populate is a fundamental right. It should not be exclusive but inclusive. Many organisms populate earth and even humans, like the millions of bacterias in our bodies. We populate with each other. It is the way humans populate that should be evolving.

“Peupler” is an immersive and interactive installation that aims to talk about this cohabitation and the inter-connectivity of the world. We want to give nature a place whose recognition is sometimes confiscated by technology. The cities of tomorrow need to consider the cohabitation with nature as an absolute necessity.

This installation aims to see and feel the point of view of a tree. First, we want to see this tree observe our cities and our lives, as a witness of the ecological improvements it wishes to see. Secondly, we want to be able to feed this tree with our presence through interactions, and talk about our inter-connectivity.

“Peupler” is housed in a new kind of immersive room made up entirely of real-time generative content, that is in a way alive. Its content adapts to the data it receives and to the presence of its spectators.

  • Maya Mouawad
    Director
    2023 - Ephémère 2022 - Paysage Sonore 2022 - Rising 2019 - Retour aux sources 2019 - Upperground
  • Cyril Laurier
    Director
    2023 - Ephémère 2022 - Paysage Sonore 2022 - Rising 2019 - Retour aux sources 2019 - Upperground
  • Benoit Baume
    Producer
    Palais Augmenté, Retours aux Sources
  • Ben Kuper
    Key Collaborators
  • Clément Gamgie
    Key Collaborators
  • Joan Sandoval
    Key Collaborators
  • Louis Raveton
    Key Collaborators
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    PEUPLER
  • Project Type:
    Installation, Interactive Film, Other
  • Genres:
    Interactive, musical, poetic
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 28, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    400,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Venice Immersive - 80th Venice International Film Festival (30th August - 9th September 2023) of La Biennale di Venezia
    Venice
    Italy
    August 30, 2023
    European
Distribution Information
  • FISHEYE
    Distributor
    Country: France
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Maya Mouawad, Cyril Laurier

Cyril Laurier studied sound at IRCAM and then artificial intelligence during a PhD at the Music Technology Group in Barcelona. His research has focused on the emotional analysis of music and has been published in journals, books and conferences. He now applies his knowledge of artificial intelligence to artistic works, with a point of view putting into question our relationship to technology and nature.

As a musician he focuses in generating new types of sounds. He used to develop tools for music companies such as Sony and Eventide but also for performers like Beardyman and Ezra.

Passionate about tech, he tackles all aspects from the conception of electronic devices to the development of Artificial Intelligence software

Maya Mouawad is an artist who focuses mostly on the current environmental issues. Her work aims at questioning the role of machines in the modern world. How can these machines affect human behavior. How can they change the way we perceive ourselves in relation to nature?

Her installations usually involve the use of technological tools, such as artificial intelligence, lights and generative sound. She co-created « Hand Coded » with Cyril Laurier, a platform for developing tools and technologies for artistic creation.

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Director Statement

Purpose

Man is fascinated by what he invents but sometimes forgets that the complexity of nature is far beyond him. Technology, which we think is the savior of climate change, is much more the cause than the solution. We do not want to neglect it, but it needs to be seen for what it is. Especially today with tools like the AI, metaverses, NFTs, cryptos, which consume a lot of energy, but for what purpose and at which cost?

Nevertheless, it is a communication tool and who better than technology to talk about it. An inside view, an introspection. The ethical questions that its evolution raises, the questions about the meaning we give it, its usefulness in a context that raises the question of our own survival.

Many subjects around nature and technology, with technology and with nature can be addressed. The challenge is to choose the right subject, in the right place for the right people.

Art is a creative space that allows us to communicate without language barriers, to exchange with the visitor on an emotional level, allowing him to feel rather than to convince him with an argument. Maybe then he tries to understand, to put words on these feelings, and thus engrave this message in his memory.

“We use technology to captivate the audience's attention and invite them to redirect it to nature.”