Meet the Artist--Olivier Pasquet's Installation at the Greatbatch Pavilion (Feb. 12-17, 2018)

Photo courtesy of the artist

Olivier Pasquet is a world-renowed music producer, sound and visual artist. Pasquet used his CAI residency to create a sound and light sculpture for the Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion of Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House Complex. His bespoke installation was open to the public Feb. 12-17, 2018 from 5:30-8:30 pm nightly. Pasquet was present throughout this period to engage with visitors and answer questions.

Pasquet worked with UB Architecture students to create a peice combining light, reflective surfaces, the transparency of the Greatbatch Pavilion itself, and his favorite musical instrument, his computer:

"I come from the world of electronic music, so the computer is very interesting. It’s a continuity of your mind. It's an interactive instrument. Time on the computer is only when you press it."

And, while it may seem like using a computer would result in a very carefully controlled composition, Pasquet's work uses the precision of technology to achieve naturalistic, random effect:

"When people write music, they like to be as precise as possible. Sometimes I like randomness and accidents. It gives a
sense of naturality. When you leave out the randomness and never leave room for surprise, things can get boring."

Olivier Pasquet first practiced music writing on his own. After composition studies at APU in Cambridge with Richard Hoadley, lectures with Trevor Wishart and Iannis Xenakis, he worked in several popular music studios including a short visit at INA-GRM. He then refocussed his work toward staged, contemporary music and media art. 

Pasquet confronts his sound works with reality thru performance art: dance, opera, music, and contemporary theatre. His pieces also materialize themselves under the form of plastic installations and purely electronic music pieces. They are played, sometimes danced, in concert halls, galleries or clubs. For instance, Olivier Pasquet taught interactive arts and computational design at l’Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs from 2006 and 2009,  and taught theater-music at Théâtre National de Strasbourg between 2007 and 2008 etc. He has received several grants and residencies such as Villa Médicis hors-les-murs, two residencies at Tokyo Wonder Site, Arcadi, residencies both in Chili and Taiwan. Between 2009 and 2012, he was an invited researcher at Tokyo University with Philippe Codognet, Keio, and Buffalo with David Felder. Since 2013, he is doing a special research in musical composition and non-standard architecture at the Huddersfield University with Pierre Alexandre Tremblay.

Lloyd's Mirror by Olivier Pasquet.

Designed by architect Toshiko Mori to serve as the visitor center for Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House, the Greatbatch Pavilion reinterprets the Martin House to expose the structural, infrastructural, and programmatic relationships of the historic building, while continuing Wright's lifelong interest in innovation through the exploration of new materials, technologies, and techniques. The inverted hip roof of the Visitor Center, for example, both references the form of Wright's building and allows uninterrupted viewing of the Martin House. The glass facade of the Visitor Center reflects the public nature of the building's program and contrasts with the introversion of Wright's design. 

Pasquet's work utilized the openness of the Greatbatch Pavilion to create a piece that could be experienced both from within and from outside the building, very much in keeping with Wright's intention to break down the distinction between inside and outside in his design of the Martin House. In this way, Pasquet's work enhanced visitors' experience of both structures.