A sound installation by Sébastien Vaillancourt
Capture from the Sounds Nice exhibition | June 2026 @ Gare du Nord (Basel, Switzerland)
The Sculpture
At the centre of the installation stands a tree-like structure built from PVC pipe and coiled speaker cable. Rather than producing sound directly, the sculpture continuously emits several low-frequency electromagnetic fields that extend into the surrounding space.
Visitors are provided handheld electromagnetic pickups that allow them to navigate these invisible fields. As they move around the sculpture, changing signal intensities are translated into sound, revealing an acoustic landscape that cannot be perceived visually.
Each pickup interprets the fields differently. Rather than sharing a single listening perspective, every participant experiences a distinct sonic layer. The installation therefore becomes a distributed instrument whose behaviour only fully emerges through multiple listeners occupying the same space.
Interaction is exploratory rather than goal-oriented. There is no correct position, no optimal route, and no predefined composition. The work unfolds through movement, comparison, curiosity and collaboration.
Listening becomes a way of mapping an otherwise invisible architecture.
Artistic Context
Modern technologies increasingly mediate our relationship with the physical world. Sensors, algorithms and wireless infrastructures constantly translate reality into signals before returning it to us in altered forms.
Overengineered makes this process tangible.
By transforming electromagnetic activity into an audible environment, the installation reveals a hidden layer of technological space that normally remains imperceptible. The sculpture does not imitate nature so much as expose how technical systems generate their own ecologies, spaces governed by different rules, yet inseparable from the environments they inhabit.
The work asks what becomes of the natural once it has been reconstructed through engineering. Rather than providing an answer, it invites visitors to experience this ambiguity directly.
Format
- Interactive Installation
- Continuous operation
- Fully autonomous
- On-going (no timed loop)
- Suitable for up to 4 visitors at once
Past Exhibitions
Röstibrücke Symposium
Zürich, Switzerland – March 2026
Sounds Nice
Basel, Switzerland – June 2026
Concept
We wanted to build a tree; we ended up with an antenna.
Overengineered emerged from a simple premise: the more we try to recreate the natural, the more we drift from it. What happens exactly when we attempt to reconstruct something that already exists?
Rather than reproducing a natural object, the process gradually transformed it. The more technical precision was introduced, the further the object drifted from its original reference. What emerged was neither a tree nor a faithful imitation of one, but an autonomous system with its own behaviour and logic.
The installation explores the moment where representation gives way to transformation. Instead of asking whether technology can reproduce nature, Overengineered asks what new realities emerge through the act of reconstruction itself.
The resulting sculpture resembles a tree while functioning as something entirely different: an antenna. Invisible electromagnetic fields replace branches as its primary means of occupying space, inviting visitors to encounter the work not through sight alone, but through listening.
Technical Overview
Visitors interact with the installation using one of four handheld electromagnetic pickups.
The sculpture continuously emits four distinct electromagnetic fields. As visitors move through the space, each pickup captures different combinations of these fields and translates them into sound through an individual synthesis engine.
Because every pickup responds differently, each participant effectively performs their own instrument while sharing the same electromagnetic environment. Visitors naturally begin comparing discoveries, exchanging microphones and exploring together, creating an experience that shifts between individual listening and collective performance.
Installation Requirements
Space
- Minimum spatial requirement: ~2m x 2m x 2m and access from all directions
- Sculpture Dimensions: 0.64m (w) x 0.64m (d) x 1.40m (h)
- Relatively quiet environment
Power
- One grounded power socket (10A, 230V)
Audio
- Open configuration: speakers (at least one, up to four) via TRS 1/4 inch cables
- Closed conviguration: four headphones with 1/8 inch plugs
About the Artist
Sébastien Vaillancourt is a Basel-based composer, performer and sound artist whose practice explores the intersection of acoustic sound, electronics and computation. His work investigates how technological systems shape musical experience through custom-built instruments, live electronics and interactive installations.
Working across composition, performance and installation, he is interested in the relationship between human gesture, machine behaviour and the emergence of complex sonic environments through human intervention. Effectively basing his work on the transduction from the human intention to the sound through electronics and computation.
His work has been presented in concerts, festivals and interdisciplinary collaborations throughout Europe and North America.
Web Site
Instagram
seb.vaillancourt@tuta.com
+41 77 809 56 26
Download CV here