Let us salute the impetus and determination of the two new directors of the Archipel festival in Geneva, Marie Jeanson and Denis Schuler, who, despite the closure of theatres in Switzerland, have maintained their 2021 edition, without an audience but captured live and in a continuous stream by theArchipel Web TV under surveillance.

On line for Hémisphère son, Marie Jeanson and Denis Schuler look back at this 30th edition, which was a bit unusual (from 16 to 25 April).

Before they even speak, they take us on a smartphone tour of the festival's reception area, namely the Maison Communale de Plain-Palais (MCP) and its dedicated spaces: on the first floor, a listening room equipped with an acousmonium (a dozen loudspeakers) where electroacoustic concerts and "listen-sharing" sessions are held; rooms with "creaking floors", a studio where programmes are recorded, etc. The ground floor houses the nerve centre of the Web TV, but also a "games room" for young people, a restaurant, a beehive and other facilities, a documentation area, a bar and a large concert hall. 

To my knowledge, Archipel is the first large-scale digital festival. What team did you surround yourself with to make such an adventure possible?
MJ and DS : The decision to maintain the festival no matter what happened was made only two months ago. We wanted to offer a convivial space where artists could meet and exchange with each other and with the audience. At the beginning, we were thinking of the radio dimension but the idea of television appeared to us much more seductive obviously. So we contacted two channels, the DAF Tivi on the one hand, a very reactive team from Geneva creating quite funny content, and Neokinok.tv on the other hand, a concept of alternative and participative television founded by the Catalan Daniel Miracle. The team has installed "surveillance cameras" in all the rooms of the MCP and broadcasts two categories of images: returns from "surveillance cameras" (occupied or not) and concert recordings including making-of and other elements usually hidden from the audience. All this leads to a rather joyful diversion of the forms of the concert and to an interesting mise en abîme of the festival. We still allow ourselves a few moments off camera!

What is the red thread or threads of this thirtieth edition?
MJ and DS: The notion of threads is indeed important in our conception of the program: those that we draw from a few initial ideas and that will weave the sonic fabric. We don't have a theme as such but connections, islands of creation (an archipelago) to which we try to give a coherence. A certain number of artists have been invited with whom we have exchanged and who have elaborated this edition with us. In this respect, we would like to mention the "Sharing of Listening", this one-hour slot that begins each day at noon. Composers and sound artists such as Cassandra Miller, Bríghde Chambeuil, Antye Greie-Ripatti, etc. are given carte blanche to play, with or without commentary, the music they feel close to and which inspires them. The sessions are held in their presence, either in person or on air, but always with sound: it's a kind of festival within the festival. With numerous installations and performance concerts planned in this very room, the emphasis is on sound, listening, the here and now... We want Archipel to be a listening festival. Here, at 2'20 :

Neu Records Listening Party, presented by Marie Jeanson and Serge Vuille of the ensemble Contrechamps on 20/04

I have also noted numerous events for young audiences.
MJ: Transmission is an important dimension of Archipelago. Discovery sessions for children are proposed and animated by our administrator Kaisa Pousset in the place called "salle de jeux" and in connection with the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique. Workshops inviting students from the Centre for Electroacoustic Music of the Haute Ecole de Musique (HEM) of Geneva are also planned. The HEM orchestra was present with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra at the inaugural concert.

(It's 11:55 and Marie Jeanson is leaving to go and host the midday "Sharing the Word"...)

We can't talk about all the events, more than sixty in this 30th edition. But can we mention, Denis Schuller, some of the highlights of the festival?
DS: First of all, there are our favourites, such as Occam Ocean by Éliane Radigue played on Sunday byONCEIM or Inwendig Losgelost by Wolfgang Mitterer, a strong and very enjoyable work which brought together the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and Le Moment Baroque. We will also hear on Wednesday evening, under the fingers of the Italian pianist Anna D'Errico, Litanies du feu et de la mer I et II, a sublime musical poem by Emmanuel Nunes played just before 50 Hz by Salomé Guillemin, a work-installation given as a premiere.
The highlight is also crystallized by the very presence of the guest artist, I am thinking of the cellist Charles Curtis who took the stage for three days and took part in an encounter around the music of Éliane Radigue. I will also mention Cassandra Miller, who was on the bill for the inaugural concert with Duet for cello and orchestra, and who will be present for practically the entire festival. The next day, she took part in the "listening sharing" exercise, which allowed us to better understand her personality, and in a few days we will discover About Bach for string quartet, a score that reflects her work on transcription.
We are also keen to support emerging artists such as Myriam Pruvot, vocalist, sound artist and performer, who has just written her first opera, Un opéra modeste, in which she plays with the codes of the genre. Here, at 5:58:

Occam Ocean by Eliane Radigue with the ONCEIM ensemble on 18/04

On the fourth day of the festival, do you have any initial feedback on how things are going?
DS : Let's say that the first day was a bit "experimental", with some problems with the control room that were quickly solved; everything is working perfectly now, with reactive teams and a great happiness from the artists and ourselves to be able to realize what we imagined and to invite the audience to come and join us; and in the end, it's happening and we say to ourselves that we don't have one project less but one project more!

Interview by Michèle Tosi