About forty singers, who take turns for 40-minute performances several times a day, among which visitors and tourists stroll: it’s “The Mutes”, a creation by Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytè, presented at the Fondation Galeries Lafayette, in Paris. The French singers, “casted” in France, were specifically chosen because they sang out of tune, the opposite of “normal” hearing.
“I trained as a classical violinist, Explain Lina Lapelyte, so I’m very sensitive to these things. But since I’m supposed to be open-minded, I asked myself: I turned down people for certain projects, but what if we changed the starting point? If I retained those that one does not usually judge capable? Almost a philosophical question, what is this starting point?
Paradoxically (or not), when we let ourselves be carried away by these voices, despite the false notes, we feel a form of appeasement, of relaxation, as if the purpose of this creation was to tell us that we always achieve a form of harmony. With no doubt a metaphor for our societies? Lina Lapelytè’s response: “I don’t really have an answer, it’s more of a question really. A lot of people sing out of tune, but when they’re together that’s what makes them almost sing in tune, they share something that way.”
“Ultimately the project is not so much to make them sing better, but for us to listen to them better.”
Lina Lapelyteat franceinfo
A philosophical-artistic approach confirmed by Elsa Coustou, the curator of the exhibition: “Include certain people who are sometimes excluded, give voice to certain people who are often asked to be silent. even listen to their voices, and it also leads us to listen differently.”
“The Mutes” can be seen free of charge until July 24 at Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation Galeries Lafayette, 9, rue du Plâtre, 75004 Paris.