Multiverse of a Birdcage

Multiverse of a Birdcage is a collaborative project by Alexandre Joly, who created the speaker panels, and Daniel Zea, who designed the sound diffusion interface. The installation consists of 17 suspended speaker panels forming a 17-voice spatial sound system. This hybrid acousmonium contains around 1,500 piezo sensors – tiny discs that vibrate when receiving a signal. Attached magnetically to steel rods and interconnected with copper wires and piano strings, the visible circuitry sketches graphic compositions that evoke the aesthetics of experimental lutherie. These sound-diffusing instruments subtly colour the audio with delicate reverberations, which unfold as the panels move through space. Like an intimate listening salon, Multiverse of a Birdcage invites visitors to explore a multiplicity of sonic worlds. The collective instrument plays a growing repertoire of sound pieces – currently 41 works – which expands with each presentation. Joly and Zea regularly invite artists to contribute new compositions designed to be broadcast through the system.

For KorSonoR, three artists-in-residence will each create a new piece over the course of a week: Olga Kokcharova, Sergei Leonov and Jiwon Seo. Their works will be premiered in a live concert within the installation. In addition, Alexandre Joly and Daniel Zea will also use the installation for one week to work on their respective pieces, which will likewise culminate in a concert.

Invited artists in residence and concert programme :

25.10
OLGA KOKCHAROVA, Effulgence
for real-time electronics in the Multiverse of a Birdcage installation

Olga Kokcharova is a sound artist, composer, musician and landscape architect. She is drawn to everything that can be heard – regardless of medium. Her work involves analogue modular synthesisers, prepared instruments and field recordings, which she uses to create compositions, radio pieces, multichannel electroacoustic improvisations, soundtracks, soundwalks and public sound installations. She actively participates in multidisciplinary research labs alongside anthropologists, architects, landscape designers, artists, sociologists and urban planners, integrating sound as a key element in shared reflection and spatial design.
Olga Kokcharova  

01.11
JIWON SEO, Séquence Han-Sud
for real-time electronics in the Multiverse of a Birdcage installation

Jiwon Seo is a South Korean composer based in Paris. Working across instrumental, vocal and electronic formats, they develop their music through traditional compositional methods while shaping a new conceptual genre. Their practice incorporates video, movement and a distinctive personal language built from diverse sonic materials: new composite timbres, sounds of the human body and dynamic rhythms drawn from folk and shamanic traditions. These elements are woven into cohesive musical structures that engage with wider societal questions. Seo is deeply interested in literature and new media and explores expanded musical expression through 3D animation, game design and AI.
Jiwon Seo

08.11
DANIEL ZEA, Lunita Consentida
for real-time electronics in the Multiverse of a Birdcage installation

See the link at the bottom of the page for Daniel Zea’s biography.

08.11
ALEXANDRE JOLY, Il reste des espaces infinis où s’abandonner
pour électronique en temps réel dans le dispositif Multiverse of a Birdcage

See the link at the bottom of the page for Alexandre Joly’s biography.

15.11
DANIEL ZEA with ENSEMBLE VORTEX, Waira
for ensemble, real-time electronics and automated lighting, within the Multiverse of a Birdcage installation

Ensemble Vortex defines itself first and foremost as a collaborative structure. Its artistic vision is driven by the creation of new repertoire, experimentation and the discovery of emerging composers and artists. Deeply engaged in hybrid projects, Vortex explores the intersection of contemporary music with new media and motion-tracking technologies. The ensemble has commissioned and premiered over 200 new works by young composers from around the world. Vortex has been invited to perform at prestigious venues and festivals including the Fondation Royaumont (France), STEIM (Netherlands), Festival Archipel (Switzerland), ReMusik (St. Petersburg), Warsaw Autumn, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (Australia), Acht Brücken (Cologne), and contemporary music festivals in Santiago, La Serena, Bogotá, Medellín, and Buenos Aires.
Ensemble Vortex

15.11
SERGEI LEONOV with ENSEMBLE VORTEX, Until the end
for ensemble, real-time electronics and automated lighting, within the Multiverse of a Birdcage installation
Sergei Leonov is a composer and sound artist whose work spans electronic and instrumental music, science/art performance and experimental pop. Trained in Saint Petersburg and later at HEM, he blends repetitive musical structures with spectral exploration, fusing folk and scientific themes, and combining classic instrumental timbres with the sonics of pop synthesisers. He teaches at HEAD – Genève and collaborates with ensembles such as Ensemble Vortex, HYPER DUO and PlayTime. In 2024–2025, he is an associate artist at L’Abri in Geneva, where he has presented performances for Festival Electron, Fête de la Musique and Nuit des Musées.
Sergei Leonov has been awarded a grant from the Leenards Foundation..
Sergei Leonov

Sergei Leonov est au bénéfice d’une bourse de la Fondation Leenaards.

Link to the page dedicated to the electroacoustic installation Multiverse of a Birdcage →