formes circulaires
An artist residency programme rooted in collaboration, improvisation and the dissolving of boundaries between artistic traditions. Running at L'Espace Sauvanie in France since 2023.
"Raw, innovative, and unpredictable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... but each time, the artists attempt something they've never done before. Uncompromising, demanding — and hopefully exhilarating."
circular forms
circular conversations
Inspired by Robert Delaunay's painting 'Formes Circulaires: Soleil , Lune': an image of rich, overlapping circles of colour, the residency programme explores a circular, creative process between artists from diverse backgrounds, cultures and traditions, each bringing their own orbit of influence into contact with the others.
Just as Delaunay dissolved the boundaries between abstraction and representation, between solar and lunar, structure and improvisation, Formes Circulaires dissolves the boundaries between artistic traditions. The work that emerges can only be made by these artists, in this space, at this moment.
five days to create something unique and original
HOW IT WORKS
DAYS 1 — 2
finding the theme
Musicians meet for the first time at the residency site. Sessions begin by searching for a shared theme — e.g. microtonal scales, Indian folk tales, instrument-making from found objects, songs about family. The frame is chosen together.
DAYS 3 — 4
making something new
Cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary collaboration in extended improvisation and composition sessions. Artists from different traditions work without hierarchy, each sharing their own orbit of influence with the others.
DAY 5
sharing the buzz
A public sharing of semi-improvised work — an audience witnesses the birth of an idea, the spark of inspiration. A once only chance to experience music of the moment
the next stage
Formes Circulaires began as a music residency programme at L'Espace Sauvanie in France in 2024. The next chapter — coming to the Peak District in 2027 — expands the model into fully interdisciplinary territory: music, moving image, dance, words and immersive practice, brought together in a landscape that demands collaboration.