A multisensory metronome “to unbalance the relationship with time”

The curatorial and multidisciplinary agency Alter-Projects participates with a satellite project to the London Design Biennale 2021, at Somerset House - Special Projects section category - under the artistic direction of Es Devlin. Responding to the dominant theme of resonance, the project curated by Anne-Laure Pingreoun involves the French studio Servaire&Co for the presentation of Metronome, an audio-olfactory installation capable of activating a succession of sounds and scents through the oscillation of a large metronome.

The curator: “I would like Metronome to elevate visitors to a plane of reflection, memory and collective resonance, away from the chaos of the year 2020. I would like visitors to really ask themselves "did this hit me?" to provide a sense of understanding and reconciliation, to emerge from the experience feeling a little lighter and at one with their memories and senses.” In fact, the installation creates an immersive space by playing with visitors’ perceptions with the aim of rebalancing (and perhaps finding?) their inner peace by bridging the gap between spaces and memories. 

The operation is certainly ambitious. Highlighting the notion of resonance on both a visual and metaphorical level, the Biennial will host installations that allow viewers to dig deep into their emotional memories by triggering emotions. Inspiration comes from French literary master Marcel Proust and his novel In Search of Lost Time, which centers its narrative on the theme of spontaneous, involuntary (but uncontrollable) memory; visitors to Metronome will find themselves before an altar of the senses, which aims to create a temporal bubble by attempting to create the condition whereby it is possible to reconnect with oneself and one’s farthest, deepest memory. 

“Metronome is an homage to the senses. We wanted to create a capsule in which visitors could leave the world around them along with the notion of time, and create a moment of meditation and inner reflection. We wanted to test how our senses considering the fascination we undergo from the notion of involuntary memory,” adds Pingreoun. This multi-sensory experience aims to trigger a combination of visual, olfactory and auditory sensations and immerse viewers in a meditative inner journey - to take them who knows where.