Matière Noire is a Paris-based creative studio leading new approaches to spacial design. Built on a network of parallel disciplines, our operation cultivates ambivalence, using observational methods to ground its intuitive impulses. Matière Noire is driven by an appetite for the undefined, the hypothetical, the intangible. Its process celebrates unexpected derivations, developing them into bespoke applications of cross-cultural collaboration.
20 rue Saint Sauveur 75002
contact@matiere-noire.paris
+33 9 70 66 95 66
Spatial design studio
Light design
Scenography
Within the Bourse du Commerce’s centenary dome, Cyrus Goberville & Villa Eugenie invite Matière Noire to conclude Arca’s 2024 world tour. Over the course of 72h, a cathartic concerto of music and light filled the vacuum of the space, reverberating, rather than competing with Tadao Endo’s time-defying architecture. The electromagnetic pulse of a theremin challenges the dome’s acoustic, a contemplative piano line orchestrating an introspective journey. Modules of light isolate the show’s dramaturgy, motorised lighting systems heightening the experience. A mechanical crane unfolds into a sculptural jellyfish, a veiled ’grape’ of zenithal light that shadows Arca’s every move. Like burnt skeletons, these light spectres progressively surround the crowd like a ripple in the continuum of the artist’s piece. On the curved walls of the hall, spectograms of feeling, laser pulses synched with Arca’s heartbeat create the evanescent fresco of a performance.