Productions Totem Contemporain is active at the forefront of research, experimentation, and innovation, particularly in the niche market of new acoustic musical instruments.
The basis of the vision put forward by Productions Totem Contemporain is “sound” in all its richness, originality, and physicality. We like to think that sound material is just as physical and visual as everyday objects, and therefore that it is possible to present sound—to stage it—in multiple ways. This vision opens up possibilities for musical discourse to go beyond simple melodic and harmonic worlds. More specifically, it opens up the potential that this visual aspect of music holds. The experience of “music” thus becomes a real event.
The starting point of “our sound” is the sound-makers invented by Jean-François Laporte, a variety of musical instruments, often made from unusual or everyday objects. However, all our instruments share a common point: sound made using strictly acoustic means. Exploring sound, exploring music, is the very basis of our artistic vision. The instrumentation we are developing is the most exciting way to make this exploration possible. Our instrumentation opens up a whole new world of discoveries both at the instrument level and at the level of musical composition and interpretation. At Totem, everything is to be discovered, everything is to be learned, and everything is to be shared.
Through the past 13 years, we have set up six series of events that allow us to make the “Totem” sound heard in various settings. We invite you to visit the pages dedicated to these series: Totem Dance, Totem Electric, Totem Installation, Totem Youth, Totem Off Series, and Totem Digital.
