Overengineered (2026)

The Sculpture

We wanted to build a tree; we ended up with an antenna.

Overengineered began as an attempt to reconstruct something that already exists: a tree. But the more technical precision was applied to the task, the further the result drifted from its model. Branches became PVC pipes. Leaves became coiled speaker cable. What emerged was not a tree, nor an imitation of one, but an idealised, overengineered version of it – an autonomous structure with its own behaviour, closer to an antenna than to any living organism. The work sits at the point where reconstruction gives way to transformation, asking not whether technology can reproduce nature, but what new realities appear when we try.

That drift is what visitors are invited to probe. The sculpture continuously emits four invisible electromagnetic fields – its aura, extending into the space around it. Handheld pickups let visitors feel these fields by probing different parts of the tree, translating changes in signal into sound. Each of the four pickups reads the fields differently, so no two visitors hear the same thing: playing together, swapping pickups, and mapping the invisible architecture becomes part of the piece itself. There is no fixed listening position, no correct route, and no predetermined composition – only the inner life of the tree to be discovered collectively, in real time.

Format

• Interactive Installation
• Continuous operation
• Fully autonomous
• On-going – no timed loop
• Suitable for up to 4 visitors at once

Notable Exhibitions

Röstibrücke Symposium
Zürich, Switzerland – March 2026

Sounds Nice
Basel, Switzerland – June 2026

Installation Requirements

About the Artist

Sébastien Vaillancourt is a Basel-based composer-performer and sound artist whose practice centers on transduction: using electronics and sensing to translate physical gestures into sound and light, and in doing so, to reveal aspects of the world that might otherwise remain imperceptible. Working across acoustic and electronic media, he creates performances and interactive systems in which plants, antennas, motion sensors used on the body, and other unconventional interfaces become instruments. His live-electronics practice explores how these technologies can extend perception, drawing attention to subtle relationships between bodies, materials, and environments.

His work has been commissioned by Ensemble Proton Bern, the Akademie der Künste Berlin, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, the Max Steiner Ensemble Vienna, and solo performers such as Jeanne Larouturou and Malin Sieberns. He has performed solo and in collaborative contexts at festivals such as Maerzmusik (Berlin), KONTAKTE (Berlin), Mise-En (New York), Decibels (Riga), and the Röstibrücke Electroacoustic Cabaret (Geneva). He has also designed live-electronics systems for productions at the Münchner Biennale, Donaueschinger Musiktage, ECLAT Festival Stuttgart, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, and Maerzmusik, collaborating with composers and performers including Thomas Kessler, Luxa Martin Schüttler, Anda Kryeziu, and Håkon Stene.

He has taught live electronics and programming in higher-education music institutions. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and the Université de Montréal, has been supported by Pro Helvetia, and was an artist-in-residence with the Mise-En Ensemble in New York. He has released two albums, with a third forthcoming in 2027.

Web Site
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seb.vaillancourt@tuta.com
+41 77 809 56 26
Download CV here