1 drop 1000 years at ISEA 2025 Seoul
29.05.2025 Jayu Theater at Seoul Arts Center
Seoul (KR)
1 Drop 1000 Years - In this hypnotic performance, I explore the tensions between the global currents that drive planetary equilibrium and the intimate currents that resonate within each of us. Fifteen suspended devices, veritable kinetic sculptures, orchestrate the flow of water particles in real time, materializing oceanic dynamics. The patterns generated, fed by data such as the temperature and salinity of the Pacific Ocean, intertwine in a visual and sonic choreography. 1 drop 1000 years unfolds as a poetic, immersive ballet, revealing the fragility of ecosystems and the delicate harmony that binds all things on Earth.
Scientists agree that a drop of water travels the globe in less than 1,000 years. This drop shapes our world: it transports nutrients, heat and living organisms, while regulating our planet's climate and ecosystems. It contributes to the fundamental process of life's equilibrium.
Drawing on data from the Global Conveyor Belt, the vast ocean current that orchestrates the mixing of water from the five oceans and redistributes heat on a global scale, Martin Messier underlines the fundamental role of water as a vital substance. Yet, over the past two centuries, human action has been shaking this fragile balance: the gradual slowing of this ocean current could trigger a major climatic upheaval, threatening the entire chain of life.
In this hypnotic performance, the artist explores the tensions between the global currents that drive planetary equilibrium, and the intimate currents that resonate within each of us. Fifteen suspended devices, veritable kinetic sculptures, orchestrate the flow of water particles in real time, materializing oceanic dynamics. The patterns generated, fed by data such as the temperature and salinity of the Pacific Ocean, intertwine in a visual and sonic choreography. 1 drop 1000 years reveals itself as a masterful, poetic ballet, conveying the fragility of ecosystems and the delicate harmony that binds all things on Earth.
SEWING MACHINE ORCHESTRA
08.05.2025 - 08.06.2025 Centre Bang
Espace Virtuel - 37 rue Rhainds, Chicoutimi-Nord
Sewing Machine Orchestra - Singer sewing machines, objects charged with collective memory and family histories, evoke a transfigured past brought back to the present and decontextualized. In Sewing Machine Orchestra, twelve domestic machines, collected and diverted from their utilitarian function, become the protagonists of a choreography orchestrated by computer and amplified by contact microphones.
Directly inspired by the performance of the same name, this installation reveals the sound and light potential of this familiar object. Unsettling in the agitation it generates, the work evolves in a crescendo of sound: like a polycephalic mechanical monster, the machines come to life with increasing intensity, filling the space with a low tone.
The omnipresent light accentuates the spectral effect of the installation. It transcends the overall choreography and casts the shadows of these ghostly objects, symbolically reanimating an industrial and domestic past. This hybrid work invites us to take part in an unsettling experiment on our links to collective memory and its materiality.
1 Drop 1000 Years at Gibanja 2025
19.05.2025 Kontejner & Pogon Jedinstvo
Zagreb (HR)
1 Drop 1000 Years - In this hypnotic performance, I explore the tensions between the global currents that drive planetary equilibrium and the intimate currents that resonate within each of us. Fifteen suspended devices, veritable kinetic sculptures, orchestrate the flow of water particles in real time, materializing oceanic dynamics. The patterns generated, fed by data such as the temperature and salinity of the Pacific Ocean, intertwine in a visual and sonic choreography. 1 drop 1000 years unfolds as a poetic, immersive ballet, revealing the fragility of ecosystems and the delicate harmony that binds all things on Earth.
Scientists agree that a drop of water travels the globe in less than 1,000 years. This drop shapes our world: it transports nutrients, heat and living organisms, while regulating our planet's climate and ecosystems. It contributes to the fundamental process of life's equilibrium.
Drawing on data from the Global Conveyor Belt, the vast ocean current that orchestrates the mixing of water from the five oceans and redistributes heat on a global scale, Martin Messier underlines the fundamental role of water as a vital substance. Yet, over the past two centuries, human action has been shaking this fragile balance: the gradual slowing of this ocean current could trigger a major climatic upheaval, threatening the entire chain of life.
In this hypnotic performance, the artist explores the tensions between the global currents that drive planetary equilibrium, and the intimate currents that resonate within each of us. Fifteen suspended devices, veritable kinetic sculptures, orchestrate the flow of water particles in real time, materializing oceanic dynamics. The patterns generated, fed by data such as the temperature and salinity of the Pacific Ocean, intertwine in a visual and sonic choreography. 1 drop 1000 years reveals itself as a masterful, poetic ballet, conveying the fragility of ecosystems and the delicate harmony that binds all things on Earth.
Oceanic Oscillation - première
16.05.2025 - 15.06.2025 PHOS
Matane (CA)
Oceanic oscillation - In the same vein as 1 Drop 1000 Years, this piece explores thermohaline currents—the deep ocean flows that regulate our planet’s climate. Through moving drawings of the thermohaline loop, brought to life by motors, lights, and sound, the project makes visible the invisible forces that shape our world.
On an oceanic scale, surface waters and deep waters intertwine in a vast circulation network - the thermohaline loop - which orchestrates the balance of living organisms. Under the impact of human activity, this dynamic is being disrupted, weakening the interactions and stability of ecosystems. How can we, as individuals, understand these invisible forces that shape our planet?
In this installation, 21 sheets of paper carry the memory of ocean currents. Their graphic lines reveal the variations of ocean currents, while a set of motors instills subtle, organic movement. Through glass filters, the public explores these oscillations, whose perception changes according to the light reflections and their own movements in front of the work. Ambient music with evolving textures, punctuated by glitches that alter sonic harmony, accompanies this fragile breathing.
With Oceanic Oscillation, Martin Messier invites us to consider ecological issues through a prism that is both philosophical and sensory: to perceive the world's pulsations, to experience the latent tension between stability and chaos, and to detect our own vulnerability in the face of ongoing imbalances.
1 Drop 1000 Years at Chroniques Biennale
07.11.2024 Friche la Belle de Mai
Marseille (F)
Homeostasis is a fundamental process for the balance of life. By allowing an organism to maintain an appropriate temperature according to the conditions in which it evolves, it is both a symbol of adaptation and durability.
The Global Conveyor Belt is a huge ocean stream called the thermohaline loop, it stirs up the waters of the five oceans and conveys heat on a global scale. Carried by the currents of this deep circulation loop, a drop of water crosses the globe in less than a thousand years and, in so doing, sculpts the world: with it travels nutrients, heat and animals, thus regulating the entire climate and ecosystems of our planet. We know for sure that this current has been slowing down abnormally for more than 200 years because of human activity, and if this deregulation keeps on going it could lead to a worldwide collapse of life through climate change. Water is the matter of life.
Seeking to highlight the finesse of our homeostatic system and the fragility of its balance, the artist proposes an artistic interpretation of these intimate and global currents that happens to be essential to the survival of our species and its environment.
1 Drop 1000 years on tour
02.10.2024 - 18.10.2024 South America
Buenos Aires (AR), Santiago (CL), Bogotá (CO), Mexico City (MX)
Martin Messier
1 drop 1 thousand years
Forcefulness and daring: with Martin Messier, the sensation that we are in front of something imposing and totally new is constant. His installations, transformed into a large instrument with which Messier develops his concerts, integrate technological processes that require the physicality and energy of the moment to activate, making him one of the most exciting contemporary artists that can be witnessed live. He arrives with 1 drop 1000 years, an installation/performance in which lighting, sound and presence generate a powerful immersive flow inspired by the alteration and balance of current climatic phenomena.
2 October 2024 - ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES, MUTEK AR
5 October 2024 - CHILE, SANTIAGO, MUTEK CL
9 October 2014 - COLOMBIA, BOGOTA, Festival No Convencional
18 October 2024 - MEXICO, MUTEK MX
Cycles & 1 drop 1000 years at Sonica Glasgow
21.09.2024 - 29.09.2024 Tramway
Glasgow, Scotland
For more than 15 years, the artist Martin Messier has created artworks in which sound art meets light, robotics and video. In the form of performances and installations, these works place the body front and center.
Sonica Glasgow, the biennial festival dedicated to world-class music and audiovisual art for curious minds and adventurous spirits, is back for its 8th edition, presented by Cryptic, who are celebrating 30 years of innovation in 2024. Get ready to be immersed.
1 DROP 1000 YEARS
Signs of the climate crisis are not always visible – but its hidden effects are no less devastating. Even a minute fluctuation in the constant temperature of the thermohyline loop which circulates through Earth’s five oceans could transform our ecosystem. It takes a millennium for a single drop of water to travel the world in this current, a fact that informs Martin Messier’s new work, in which digital water currents stream, splatter and splash, set to a bubbling electronic soundtrack that underscores water’s vital importance to our continued survival.
21 September 2024 - 20:15
Tramway Glasgow
Sonica Talk: Martin Messier: Placing the body front and centre - Sound, Light and Robotics
Martin Messier will discuss the intersection between sensory experiences and technology. He will share insights into his projects through engaging videos and discussions, revealing how sound, light, and robotics can redefine our understanding of the human/machine art form. By giving voice to materials through movements and sound, Messier creates performances that highlight the synchronicity between sound and image, transforming ordinary objects into captivating experiences.
21 September 2024 - 11:00
Glasgow School of Art
CYCLES
In Martin Messier’s Cycles, thin straps of dazzling light flail out into empty space, then float down almost weightless in the dark. Their movements – sometimes one beam acting alone, sometimes all eight in complex interplay – form patterns that move from the closely choreographed to the seemingly random, while an accompanying electronic hum suggests industrial machinery or a hive of insects intent on some inscrutable task. Messier transforms his fascination for harmony and disorder into a dance for white light, a simple medium describing highly involved systems.
19 - 29 September 2024
CCA, Glasgow
1 DROP 1000 YEARS at MUTEK
24.08.2024 MUTEK - A/VISIONS 2
Montreal, Quebec (CA)
Martin Messier's 1 drop 1000 years is an immersive audiovisual performance, portraying the critical yet fragile role of the thermohaline circulation system. Using advanced technology, Messier captures the essence of global currents, emphasizing their delicate balance and the urgent human impact on climate regulation.
Cycles at MUTEK Montreal
15.08.2024 - 29.08.2023 MUTEK
Montreal, Quebec (CA)
Cycles is an installation where everyone is invited to become aware of the relationships linking cyclical and unpredictable phenomena. These dialogues are also found in the sound space: the tuned engines envelop the music diffused with their elusive timbres and draw this landscape in which the harmony is built as much by its power as by its vulnerability.
Impulse
08.04.2024 - 13.03.2024 MUTEK / Roca Barcelona Gallery
Barcelona (ES)
Impulse is a suspended work of five juxtaposed parts. Each part is made up of two metal panels linked to each other by eight wires that light up in a computerized sound and light program.
In this project, Martin Messier proposes a poetic analogy with a technological twist to the functioning of the brain, in the form of the circulation of energy rendered visible by the paths of light travelling between one panel and the other.
1 drop 1000 years
05.04.2024 - 03.05.2024 On tour
The Hague, Barcelona, Gijòn
Martin Messier - 1 drop 1000 years, an original performance that reflects on a fundamental phenomenon for the balance of life: homeostasis. The Global Conveyor Belt is a huge ocean stream that stirs up the waters of the five oceans and conveys heat on a global scale. Seeking to highlight the finesse of our homeostatic system and the fragility of its balance, the artist proposes an artistic interpretation of these intimate and global currents that happens to be essential to the survival of our species and its environment.
Rewire Festival
5 April 2024
MUTEK Barcelona
11 April 2024
LEV Festival - Gijòn
3 May 2024
ECHO Chamber
11.11.2023 FIAV - Festival International d'Art Vidéo de Casablanca - du VHS à l'Intelligence Artificielle
Casablanca (MA)
ECHO CHAMBER by Martin Messier an audiovisual performance in several tableaus, Echo Chamber takes its inspiration from technologies that let us probe inside the body, such as ultrasound and acupuncture, generating a sound composition in which the idea of resonance predominates.
In creating a modular interface of three panels allowing multiple manipulations, Messier has determined the boundaries of the possibilities for the performance of a choreography of sound and light.
He wields long needles as if they were notes from an instrument, piercing through an audio-reactive plate that sets off sound sequences.
Like the ultrasound needle palpating the body to reveal what might be in its interior – a living yet invisible presence? – Messier’s performative gestures are the sources of images in which the body eventually appears, magnified as a transported shadow.
The Echo Chamber device is continually transformed during the performance: by a series of movements and position shifts, an entire scenography unfolds before our eyes. The panels increase in number; the light sources appear, disappear, multiply, and mutate.
Cut-outs of light cause visual elements to materialize in response to the sound echoes, to the magnetic resonances of the body left in shadow, now turned into a shadow.
The panels then become screens in which we see the body’s interior, where scintillating cells are in motion. Window to the interior, the function of the device is reversed: Messier takes us through to the other side, under the invisible skin.
The interface-membrane becomes a passageway, a porous surface through which time is transposed and transforms the living matter.
Carrier of an electric charge, the matter of the body itself is a vehicle, a vector. This is what the final sequence of Echo Chamber suggests: the link between the world and the self, between the outside and the inside – remanence emanating from the echo chamber.
Echo Chamber & Elusive Matter
18.11.2023 Hexagone Scène Nationale Arts Sciences
Meylan (F)
With Elusive Matter, a minimalist light and sound performance, Martin Messier transforms simple wisps of smoke into a veritable projection screen. In a room submerged in darkness, armed with a projector as his sole source of light, Messier draws a myriad of ghostly spaces, architectural shapes and dreamlike images from the intangible haze, juxtaposing light and sound in order to conjure atmospheres both ethereal and soothing.
ECHO CHAMBER by Martin Messier an audiovisual performance in several tableaus, Echo Chamber takes its inspiration from technologies that let us probe inside the body, such as ultrasound and acupuncture, generating a sound composition in which the idea of resonance predominates.
In creating a modular interface of three panels allowing multiple manipulations, Messier has determined the boundaries of the possibilities for the performance of a choreography of sound and light.
He wields long needles as if they were notes from an instrument, piercing through an audio-reactive plate that sets off sound sequences.
Like the ultrasound needle palpating the body to reveal what might be in its interior – a living yet invisible presence? – Messier’s performative gestures are the sources of images in which the body eventually appears, magnified as a transported shadow.
The Echo Chamber device is continually transformed during the performance: by a series of movements and position shifts, an entire scenography unfolds before our eyes. The panels increase in number; the light sources appear, disappear, multiply, and mutate.
Cut-outs of light cause visual elements to materialize in response to the sound echoes, to the magnetic resonances of the body left in shadow, now turned into a shadow.
The panels then become screens in which we see the body’s interior, where scintillating cells are in motion. Window to the interior, the function of the device is reversed: Messier takes us through to the other side, under the invisible skin.
The interface-membrane becomes a passageway, a porous surface through which time is transposed and transforms the living matter.
Carrier of an electric charge, the matter of the body itself is a vehicle, a vector. This is what the final sequence of Echo Chamber suggests: the link between the world and the self, between the outside and the inside – remanence emanating from the echo chamber.
Cycles
26.10.2023 - 29.10.2023 KIKK Festival
Delta, Namur (B)
Cycles is an installation where everyone is invited to become aware of the relationships linking cyclical and unpredictable phenomena. Harmony and chaos call out to each other in this space where the eight strings of light dance and unfold.
Despite the vivacity of its propulsion, the wire leaves an impression of floating. By marking the nuance between the purity of this suspended movement and the violence of the mechanism that fecundates it, the work proposes an experience where infinity cohabits with the restarts that are part of it.
These dialogues are also found in the sound space: the tuned engines envelop the music diffused with their elusive timbres and draw this landscape in which the harmony is built as much by its power as by its vulnerability.