Intermissions: Tomoko Sauvage

Tomoko Sauvage is a Paris-based artist best known for her long-time musical practice on the Waterbowls, an original array of water-filled porcelain bowls and hydrophones that function as an aqueous electroacoustic instrument. In her amplified waters, Sauvage plays with water drops, bubbles, and waves, as well as clay, stones, shells, and glass objects, combining their idiophonic sounds with crystalline subaquatic feedback tones. As a composer, her work centers on tactile materiality of vibrant objects, metaphorical listening, and the use of the chance. For her first-ever appearance in Chicago, as part of the Renaissance Society’s Intermissions series, Sauvage occupies the museum’s resonant gallery space in an exploratory one-week mini-residency, culminating in two nights of public performances.

Curated by Michael Harrison.

For two decades, Sauvage has been performing internationally at institutions and festivals such as Barbican Centre (London), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Maerz Musik (Berlin), Musée d’art moderne (Paris), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Nyege Nyege Festival (Uganda), and Wonder Cabinet (Palestine). Her installation and video works have been shown at Sharjah Art Foundation and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art.