On Air - On Site : 48 Hours of Radio Art

Aired on May 25th 18:00 CEST 2025
Faire Culture
Genre: Radio Documentary, Sound Art
Duration: 30 min
"Faire Culture (Doing Culture)" excerpt, an excerpt from a sound art documentary piece by Benoit Bories, binaural stereo version, exists also in 14.2 and 8.1 live performance version, co- production Le Florida Agen, Faïdos Sonore, with the support of French Culture Ministry and Region Council of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

«Talking, dreaming, sleeping and laughing, doing nothing and letting it be said.» A phrase found in the music-hall Le Florida archives by Florent, Director.

Making sure that everything is in order in the studio for the next rehearsal slot, not getting too tense when a DJ mishandles the broadcasting equipment patiently set up that very morning, keeping an eye out for new faces with a passion for music, not falling asleep after a two-hour meeting with a user who has come to exhibit photographs in the hall, not getting tense again when the manager of a well-known band talks a bit too much "like a Parisian lecturer", adapting slightly crazy requests for scenography to the venue you know so well and whose walls you can't push, doing your utmost and even more for young local bands, being understanding when an older user hasn't understood that you need the internet to play a track from a streaming platform, and continuing to be understanding when you have to configure the internet connection on that same user's phone, finding moments to breathe by isolating yourself in the repair room to re-tension snare drums and re-weld cables, coming out of your isolation and keeping a smile on your face even if you want to sleep in order to recover from the nights before, gently telling the group of teenagers coming for lunch in the hall for the tenth time this week that "in winter, you have to close the front door ! "organising a solidarity network for a venue threatened by a fascist political climate. Having the feeling of having spent another day growing up, growing old and dreaming together once the door to the auditorium has closed.

Faire Culture (Doing culture) is a musical sound art documentary that explores the polyphony of everyday life at Le Florida, France's oldest music hall and a former dance hall from the 1930s. It's a poetic and sonorous exploration of how culture can be shared at a time when local libraries and social centres are under threat of closure due to budget restrictions.

Featuring:

Benoit Bories

Benoit Bories is a sound artist. He has produced audio documentaries and sound art pieces for different public broadcast companies. His sound art activity comes originally from the radio documentary. It has gradually transformed over time towards more hybrid productions combining forms borrowing from sound art, acousmatic composition and field recording while retaining this desire to document societal issues. He was, during his experiments, brought to establish a formalism of sound writing which is specific to him. His learning and practice of sound writing are based on in-depth training in physics, a taste for musical experimentation and a desire to confront social issues in the field of these issues. He insists on maintaining an artisanal relationship to sound work.

Since 2016, he has been presenting his pieces in the form of “documentary concerts” and developing sound pieces for live performance, or installations. He has collaborated with several festivals and cultural venues for his performances and regularly participates in artistic residencies abroad. Benoit Bories has won several international awards and mentions for his sound work (Premios Ondas Prize, Prix Bohemia, Phonurgia Nova Awards, New York Radio Awards, Grand Prix Nova Romania, Prix Europa, IDA Awards).

The 2025 edition will be broadcast online from 8 pm on May 23 to 8 pm on May 25 (CET)