The first edition of the Sound Biennial, which aims to highlight the growing importance of sound in contemporary art, is taking shape. This major event, which aims to represent the diversity of the protagonists involved in exploring the relationship between art and sound, will take place in the heart of the Valais (Switzerland) in autumn 2023.

Over the last few years, David Horvitz has created a number of musical instruments based on tubular bells, suspended from trees, buildings or held by participants. Each brass tube corresponds to a note. For La Criée, an art center in Rennes, the tubes, oxidized by rain, cider vinegar and seawater, were used to play the Breton lullaby Luskellerez Vor (Lullaby of the Sea).
And for the Berlin biennial Britzenale 4, in August 2023, 31 tubes recovered from scrap metal allowed us to hear the German lullaby Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf under a red oak tree. In Sion, in the west staircase of the power station, 30 meters of tubes are distributed like a giant harmonium.

For the Sound Biennale, David Horovitz has written a series of short poems that are invitations to connect with the environment. "Put your mouth against the bark of a tree and make your lips and voice vibrate in the tree through the roots and up to the sky", "Imagine the silence emanating from a vanished glacier" or "Call a raven until a raven calls you" are all suggestions inspired by the reality of the Alpine landscape.
These texts, in English and French, staged by Valaisan artist Romain Iannone, will be distributed on the Valaisan poster network, on the large outdoor panel of the Payot bookshop in Sion, where EDHEA regularly programs graphic and artistic proposals, and in the pages of Le Nouvelliste.