Biography (english)
RadioMentale, a DJ and sound artists duo founded by Jean-Yves Leloup & Eric Pajot, can be seen as a sound-system influencing on the airwaves, clubs, urban spaces, web & art venues.
They started their career in 1992, with their own radio show, playing experimental music, concrete music, ambient & electronic. During ten years, they produced this weekly and cult radio show in Paris for Radio FG (first french and independant electronic music station), national Swiss station Couleur 3 and Tokyo Shibuya FM. During this period, the also played in the first techno and rave parties organized in Paris.
From the mid-90’s, they started to work in the field of contemporary art, composing sountracks and soundpieces for exhibitions, and collaborating with video artists, writers, designers or film directors.
Since then, their work, their installations and performances, have been presented in various venues such as Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Kassel Documenta X, Luxembourg Mudam, Paris Cité de la musique, Cartier Foundation, and of course various clubs, music and cinema festivals over Europe.
Since 2000, they are known as the pioneers of « cinemix », an audiovisual performing practise quite popular in France. As Djs and sound artists, they create new soundtracks for silent and classic experimental films (by Griffith, Murnau, Keaton, Vertov, and dada and surrealist artists), but also for modern talking movies, such Antonioni’s Blow Up, Gus Van Sant’s Gerry, Brian De Palma’s Dressed To Kill or David Cronenberg’s Videodrome.
A RadioMentale performance or sound piece, is usually a collage drawing on an eclectic range of audio sources, including sound experiments, movie soundtracks, ambient music, experimental & electronic music, natural sounds, fragment of interviews and human voice.
Recently, they released as L-R & RadioMentale (with Jean-Philippe Renoult), the album entitled I Could Never Make That Music Again, for the belgian label Sub Rosa, awarded by a 2008 Qwartz Prize in France for best electronic artist.
Their latest soundpieces were commissioned by french radio programs and stations such as France Culture’s ACR (creative radio workshop), France Musique’s Tapage Nocturne and Radio Grenouille’s Engrenages festival.
Jean-Yves Leloup is a sound-artist, DJ, critic, journalist and a curator, specialized in electronic music, contemporary art & new technologies. He is the author of an essay entitled « Digital Magma » (2009, Sternberg Press) and also “Global Techno” (published in 1999 by Camion Blanc and republished by Scali in 2008). He has been the curator of the design and sound art project Audiolab.
Born in 1968 in Paris. Lives and work in Paris.
Eric Pajot, musician, sound and visual artist, he used to work as a computer graphic and website designer. He has released several singles on independant parisian labels, composed movie soundtracks and released various personal DVD of its graphic and video work.
Born in 1966 in Bourgogne. Lives and work in Paris.
Works, exhibitions, installations & performances
(1994-2009 selection)
2008
Pieces, exhibitions, performances
-Award winner of the 2008 Qwartz Prize, « best artist », for the « I Could Never Make That Music Again » album released on Sub Rosa.
-Second season of our monthly radio show for the Marseille sation Radio Grenouille.
-Sound piece « Una Dolce Notte ». Public broadcasting, Vieille Charité museum in Marseille, and inside the collective exhibition « In and Out Of Synch : A comment on cinema intermingled with the experience of three audible spaces », Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design.
-Sound design and musical composition for the Henri de Gerlache & Christophe D’Yvoire documentary, « Célèbres Anonymes », broadcasted on Canal +.
-Sound piece, « Airs Pop », public broadcasting, commissioned by the sound art festival Engrenages, Marseille.
-Sound piece « ACR RMX », commissioned by the creative radio workshop of national radio station France Culture. Live presentation at the Rex Club.
-Audiovisual performance/multiscreen video installation, « Gerry Tryptique », inspired by the Gus Van Sant movie, « Gerry », presented at the L’autre Canal venue in Metz.
Cinemixes :
-Live soundtrack for the « Dada & Surrealist film » program, in Cherbourg & St Denis de la Réunion.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « « Koyaanisqatsi » by Godfrey Reggio, La Bellevilloise, Paris ; Agence JAK, Paris ; Institut Français, Mainz, Germany ; Festival « La Nuit des arts sacrés », Eglise St Eustache, Paris ; Rencontres Musiques Electroacoustiques, Chartres.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Queen Kelly » by Erich Von Stroheim. Commissioned by the La Rochelle Film Festival.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Dressed To Kill » by Brian De Palma, “Ecoutez, c’est du cinéma !” Festival, Paris.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Sunrise » by W. Murnau, Itinérances Film Festival, Alès.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the experimental film « Decasia-The State of Decay », by Bill Morrison, la Blanchisserie contemporary art gallery, Paris.
2007
Pieces, exhibitions, performances
-Sound piece « Soundscape 1 : Sunday the 24th of June 2007 », commissioned by the sound art festival Engrenages, Paris and Marseille.
-Release of the album « I Could Never Make That Music Again », on belgian label Sub Rosa.
-Sound piece, « ¼ inches », commissioned by Arte Radio.
-Sound piece « « Painting, Drawing, Cutting & Pasting », MP3 release, net-label SSS.
-First season of our monthly residence for Marseille Radio Grenouille.
Cinemixes :
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « « Koyaanisqatsi » by Godfrey Reggio, french institute, Bucarest, Goethe Institut, Cluj, Romania.
-Live soundtrack for the « Dada & Surrealist film » program, Eclectica Festival, Estonia and Le Volcan, Le Havre, France.
2006
Pieces, exhibitions, performances
-Remix for Rainier Lericolais, Optical Sound label.
-Audiovisual untitled performance, Designer’s day, Moscow.
-« Thousands of records (Walking Tree mix) », sound piece for the travelling exhibtion « Audiolab », Designer’s day, Moscow.
-Public broadcasting of the sound piece « I Could Never Make That Music Again », Sonor Festival, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes.
-Audiovisual performance/multiscreen video installation, « Gerry Tryptique », inspired by the Gus Van Sant movie, « Gerry », commissioned by La Cartonnerie, Reims.
Cinémixes :
-Live soundtrack for the « Dada & Surrealist film » program, commissioned by the festival des Musique à l’écran, Toulon ; Territoires Electroniques festival, Aix-en-Provence.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Orphans in The Storm» by Griffith, Vendôme Film Festival.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Blow Up» by Antonioni, Tulle Festival.
-Monthly performances at the Divan du Monde venue in Paris. Live mixed soundtracks for the films « Donnie Darko » by Richard Kelly, « Dressed To Kill» by Brian De Palma, « Blow Up » by Michelangelo Antonioni, « Cure » & « kaïro » by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film « Donnie Darko» by Richard Kelly, Musiques Volantes Festival, Metz.
2005
Pieces, exhibitions, performances
-« Sound Opera » performance, Centre Georges Pompidou.
-« I Could Never Make That Music Again », sound piece commissioned by De Appel contemporary art center, Amsterdam, « Radio Days » exhibition.
-Audivisual performances by Digital Cinema (Jean-Yves Leloup & Jérôme Duval) at Le Cube and Mains d’œuvres in Paris, and La Rochelle Film Festival.
-Live Performance inspired by the sound piece « Una Dolce Notte », Cartier Foundation.
-Soundtrack for the Pierre La Police exhibition « Traumavision », Agnes B. Gallery, Honk-Kong.
Cinemix
-Live mixed soundtrack for the film Gerry», by Gus Van Sant, la Blanchisserie contemporary art gallery, Paris.
2004
-Eric ajot solo video pieces and limited edition T-Shirts, Gallery la Blanchisserie, FIAC (Contemporary Art Fair), Paris.
-Cinemix performance on « Donnie Darko », Rencontres Cinématographiques de St Denis, Saint-Denis.
-Performance and soundtrack for the Pierre La Police exhibition, Agnes B. Gallery, Tokyo-Ginza.
-Performance and soundtrack for the Pierre La Police exhibition, Agnes B. Gallery,Paris.
-Performance featuring Patrick Bouvet (writer), MUDAM (Museum of Modern Art), Luxembourg.
-« Soyleent Green Picnic », video & Djing performance, a night of music, video and chill-out, Gallery La Blanchisserie, Boulogne.
-JY Leloup solo mixed soundtrack for the « Aya » contemporary dance ballet, Yamaguchi Ycam and Osaka Itami Hall theater, Japan.
-Video & Djing performance, « Les Lumières du Son », Nuit Blanche, Paris, open air festival.
-Music & Djing performance at the Tarantino Party, Glazart, Paris.
-Music & Djing performance, Electronautes festival, Batofar, Paris.
-JY Leloup series of solo performances. Opening of The Orb DJ set.
-Series of JY Leloup performances within the Digital Cinema project, in Paris (Palais de Tokyo, Nemo Festival), Lyon (Nuits Sonores festival), Marseille (Documentary festival), Tokyo (French Institut), Montreal (FCMM Cinema Festival).
-2 cinemixes performances for the Dijon cinema festival, on « Altered States » by Ken Russel, and « Cure »by Kyoshi Kurosawa.
2003
-Video, music & DJing performance, Nuit Electro, Cité de la Musique, Paris, October.
- Video, music & DJing performance, « Mulholand Highway », Glaz’art, Paris, October 2003.
-Various « cinemix » performances for the « Electronic Cinema » tour, Nantes, Marseille, on « Cure » by Kyoshi Kurosawa.
-« Cinemix » performance on the movie « Element of Crime » by Lars Von Trier, Paris (march), Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon.
-Presentation of the sound piece, « Una Dolce Notte», commissioned by the french ministry of culture, at the Femis school of cinema, Paris.
2002
-Performance for the « Space Tourism » night, Nouveau Casino, Paris, décember.
-« Cinemix » performances on the movie « Vidéodrome » by David Cronenberg, autumn 2002, Paris & Marseille.
- « Puzzle People » performance with the french writer Patrick Bouvet, November, Paris.
-Release of the “Cut-Up Scenario” CD, Spring 2002, MK2 music.
-Sound/video performance, Audiolives, Paris Palais de Tokyo, April 2002.
-Video & sound piece for the web art project “Helium. Produced by the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Arts and curated by Cristina Ricupeiro).
2001
- « 2 Players » performance for the opening of the « Audiolab » exhibition, november 2001, Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art.
- « Thousands of Records (Hyperactive Child Mix) » performance, Centre Pompidou, september 2001.
-« Thousands of Records (Hyperactive Child Mix) », sound piece broadcasted for the “Hétérophonies” soundart issue of the on-line magazine, synesthésie, september 2001.
-« Thousands of records », sound piece for the travelling exhibition « Audiolab », Contemporary art museum of Strasbourg, Centre Georges Pompidou, Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art.
-Performance at the Aquaplanning festival, Hyères, France.
-« The Soundscaped & remixed Fight Club », sound & movie performance, Le Batofar, Paris.
-Performance for the “Revues Parlées”, Centre Georges Pompidou.
2000-1995
-DJ Mix at the « Futuria 2000 » rave, Paris Zénith venue, September 2000.
-Participation at the Global Tekno 2000 Event, La Beauté exhibition, Avignon, France, summer 2000. ” Radio Selva “, soundtrack for the multimedia Saas Fee installation ” The Electronic Dreamplant “.
-Participation to the “On Air” collective performance, with artists Valery Grancher, Evelyne Koeppel, Dominique Gonzales-Foerster and Takuji Kogo, antic theater of Arles, summer 2000.
-Point/ligne/plan gallery, showing of the ” Ipanema Théories ” long feature by Dominique Gonzales-Foerster (soundtrack by Radio Mentale), Cannes, France 2000.
-Performance and live creation of the soundtrack for the Dominique Gonzales-Foerster long feature, “Ipanema Théories”, FEMIS (Paris International cinema school), 2000.
-”Surfmusic 3 (A simple text transmission) “, specific soundpiece for netsurfing, exclusively conceived for the www.united-art-space.com contemporary art website.
-Performance and mix for the ZAC exhibition, ARC/Paris museum of Modern Art, 1999.
-Performance for the re-opening of the FEMIS cinema school, Paris, 1999.
-Monthly mixes and multimedia performances at the Dolores Parties, What’s Up Bar, Paris, 1998-99.
-« Surf Music 1 & 2 », sound environments for the Documenta X, Kassel, 1997.
-« Tech Low », sound environment for the Global Tekno 2 exhibition, Passage de Retz, Paris, 1997.
-Performance and sound environment (“Tech Low”), Global Tekno 3 exhibition, Galerie Pour la Vie of the CAPC museum of Bordeaux, 1996.
-« Regresse », sound environment for the « Auto-Reverse » exhibition, Le Magasin, Grenoble, 1996.
-« Mute », sound environment, « Dimensional Theory » exhibition, Nikolaj art center, Copenhagen,1996.
-« Mute », sound environment for the “X,Y” exhibition, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995.
-Performance for the « The Show Must Go On » event, Fondation Cartier, Paris, 1995.
