OCEANS INFINIS
An Arts-Science project that takes us under the ocean to discover the universe of cetaceans and their world, inviting us to reflect on the fragile beauty of marine ecosystems.
DURATION: 1 hour
UNDERWATER EXPERIENCE - ARTS-SCIENCE PROJECT
Oceans Infinis is an ambitious project that pushes the boundaries of artistic expression and scientific research. It represents a bridge between humanity and the marine world, between knowledge and emotion, between listening and understanding.
It is an invitation to listen carefully, to learn with curiosity, and to act with compassion for the wonders hidden beneath the waves of our infinite oceans.
THE PROJECT TAKES SEVERAL FORMS:
-Infinite Ocean duo concert
- Concert-conference format, where the presence of one or more speakers allows for a different kind of interaction with the audience. (Oceanographers, marine biologists, cetologists.)
-Sanctuarium immersive installation
-Cultural action “Composing with the living” based on field recording and listening to the environment in order to raise awareness and educate people about the major issues at stake for the planet and the oceans.
OCEANS INFINIS
CONCERT-CONFERENCE
Sophie Bernado
Music and composition
Sophie Bernado is a composer, bassoonist and singer based in Occitanie.
After studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and winning a first prize in bassoon in 2003, she spent 7 years living in Berlin, where she collaborated and traveled extensively. Passionate about world music, Sophie explores the technique and sound of her instrument in order to push its limits.
In 2019, Sophie Bernado and Céline Grangey have decided to join forces to create the Lila Bazooka extendable bassoon solo, and to explore infinite possibilities through encounters with atypical traditional instruments and interdisciplinary collaborations. After a long stay in Kyoto, they produce their first album in collaboration with Sho player Ko Ishikawa ((Arashiyama label Ayler Records 2022) The second Lila Bazooka will be released in 2021 in Reykjavik, featuring Icelandic music and the blowing of humpback whales.
In 2024-2025, the third version is born: Océans Infinis, supported by Jean-Yves Georges, researcher in global ecology (CNRS).
Since 2021, Sophie Bernado has taken part in the international artists' meeting Reset at Neumünster Abbey. She has also begun collaborating with Uriel Barthélémy, Salomon Baneck-Asaro and Link Berthomieux on the interdisciplinary project Naviguer sur les ruines de l'ancien monde, and joined Vincent Courtois' project Finis Terrae.
Since 2022, she has created the Bruno Lapin trio in collaboration with Clément Petit and Joce Mienniel, (BMC 2024 album release), co-founded Simone with Séverine Morfin and Tatiana Paris (2024 album release) and Atavi with Romain Baudouin and Grégory D'argent (Atamor album, Pagans label, 2024 release). She can also be seen alongside Hugues Mayot, Clément Janinet, Bruno Ducret and Joaquim Florent in the group l'Arbre Rouge (L'Arbre Rouge label BMC 2017,Invocation label BMC 2024).
In 2023, she co-created the show Ma plus belle ombre with Gaya Wisniewski and Hugues Mayot (written by Carl Norac and illustrated by Gaya Wisniewski).
She is also starting an interdisciplinary creation "Le café des Allongés" with Marie Delmarès (actress) and Margot Chamberlin (construction and manipulation).
A musician by training, Céline Grangey studied in the CNSMDP Sound Professions Training. This training was imposed on her because the work of sound is closely linked to music. She also does many internships in France and abroad. In 2005, she completed her experience with a residency at the Banff Center for the Arts (Canada) where she deepened her practice of live and studio sound recording, mastering and multi-channel mixing on a wide variety of projects. Musician/sound engineer obtained in 2006, her career began as a sound recordist for festivals and recordings for which she was also in charge of all post-production. Thus from 2008 to date she has produced numerous discographic and audiovisual productions as a sound engineer and/or artistic director. In recent years she has also developed her activity around concert recording both as a sound engineer and as a consultant. music and also teaches part-time classical sound recording at the CNSMDP. Always very involved in jazz and improvised music, she provides sound for concerts and accompanies several jazz ensembles in the studio.
Céline questions the role of the sound engineer and his relationship to the musician and the expanded possibilities offered to the instrumentalist by recording and sound. For her, the starting point of her work is always to transcribe the sound of the musician(s) as faithfully as possible, but it also explores the different techniques that make it possible to transform the sound material.
Céline Grangey-Sound design et Composition
Jean-Yves Georges -Chercheur en écologie globale
Directeur du CNRS Strasbourg
Researcher in global ecology,
Jean-Yves Georges is CNRS Research Director at the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (UMR7178 CNRS Université de Strasbourg).
Trained as an ecologist, with over 15 years' research experience in the ecology of large marine vertebrates (turtles, birds, mammals), he is developing involved, integrated, transdisciplinary research into the global ecology of continental hydrosystems, to clarify their functioning in the current context of global change. The aim is to assess the survival capacities of local wildlife and the resilience of ecosystems in the context of climate change, biological invasions, species reintroductions, environmental policies and new human-non-human relationships. His research lies at the interface between the life, universal, engineering, humanities and social sciences, and provides a scientific basis for decision-making on the question of "what kind of nature for tomorrow? in natural, rural and urban environments.
He is currently coordinating the pan-European Emys-R program, aimed at the socio-ecological assessment of wetland restoration to promote the reintroduction of the European cistude and associated biodiversity.
To consult his work: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-Yves-Georges and https://emysr.cnrs.fr/
IRD, Research Unit UMR 248 - MARBEC, Av. Jean Monnet CS 30171, 34203 Sète Cedex, FRANCE My research focuses on the understanding of the foraging adaptations of marine predators to the cryptic nature and dynamic distribution of their prey. I use bio-logging technologies (VHF, TDR, GLS, ARGOS, GPS or CAMERA tags) as well as RADAR and acoustic recorders to investigate the foraging behavior of free-ranging predators such as otarrids, seabirds, sea turtles, fish ..Invited by the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds and Wildlife) of the Bassin de Thau, Yann TREMBLAY, a specialist in the behavioral ecology of birds and marine mammals, invites you on a journey through some of his research carried out over the last thirty years in the field of eco-ethology of marine animals:
BOOKING
LINE-UP
CONCERT-CONFERENCE
Sophie Bernado - composition, basson, voix
Céline Grangey - création sonore, traitements sonores, Baptiste Mésange-Ingénieur du son
Baptiste Mésange - Ingénieur du son
Conférenciers locaux invités : Michel Ségonzac, Jeff Humbert,Léa David et Marine Roul de EcoOcéan
Institut, Romain Pete du SMBT, Yann Tremblay de l'IRD
OCEANS INFINIS
An art-science project at the crossroads of empathy, music, and ecological commitment
Océans Infinis is fully in line with an art-science approach, combining artistic experimentation, scientific research, and ecological commitment.
A publication has already been produced on inter-species communication through emotion and music, laying the theoretical and sensory foundations for this work. In 2024, an experimental expedition was conducted in Hawaii, during which an interspecies musical performance took place with humpback whales. During this experiment, Sophie Bernado played the bassoon in interaction with the cetaceans, while wearing an electrocardiograph (smartwatch) to measure her emotional activity in real time. This data, combined with sound recordings of the performance made by Céline Grangey, now forms a valuable corpus.
For the year 2025-2026, an in-depth data analysis phase is planned, in collaboration with scientific partners, to study the basis of inter-species communication through music. This approach aims to reschedule a future expedition, this time with a reinforced scientific protocol, to pave the way for a tangible understanding of the sensitive exchanges between humans and non-human life, particularly in marine environments.
Océans Infinis is closely connected to a vast community of scientists working in the France-Mediterranean region, with whom the project collaborates in the form of concert-lectures.
This interdisciplinary approach, combining art and science, aims to build bridges between sensory knowledge and scientific knowledge.
The heart of Océans Infinis and Sanctuarium lies in their ability to provoke deep empathy through art.
A sensory and emotional empathy, evoked by music, images, sounds, and stories. This sensory experience aims to raise the audience's ecological awareness by connecting them intimately with issues related to the oceans. The goal is to move towards a form of sanctification—or rather “sanctivization”—a consecration of marine life, thereby nurturing a desire to preserve and restore ocean ecosystems.
This is about the unique link between the ocean and music: from a scientific point of view, the ocean is nothing but vibration. The compositional process used by Sophie Bernado is inspired by that of Olivier Messiaen (Catalogue des Oiseaux), developing a musical language based on the vocal material of humpback whales, belugas (melodic), sperm whales (rhythmic), orcas, corals, and dolphins.
During their recent interaction with Rochelle Constantine (University of Auckland), Sophie Bernado and Céline Grangey discovered that not only humpback whales but also bowhead whales had a connection with the bassoon.
Céline Grangey is working on sound design based on the sounds collected, as well as arrangement and composition.
The idea is to use musical material from humpback whales, bowhead whales, orcas, and sperm whales in particular, as well as underwater life (field recordings), pass it through the prism of the human “Umwelt” (artistic composition specific to humans), and send it back underwater.
We are working on a scientific study with Jean-Yves Georges (CNRS) and Yann Tremblay (UMR) on emotion as a means of communication with marine mammals.
Communication from humans to marine mammals, from land-based musicians to aquatic musicians through a hydrophone.
An augmented version of Océans Infinis is currently being created for 2027.
Océans Infinis augmenté will be a quintet version of our duo.
SANCTUARIUM immersive installation
With Sanctuarium, this collaboration has reached a new stage: the project aims to extend and deepen this synergy through an immersive sound and visual installation, allowing visitors to explore marine stories, data, and the emotions they convey in a new way. In the case of Sanctuarium, the creation of an immersive sound and visual installation aims to place human beings in a situation of perfect empathy with the experiences of marine mammals. Through the combination of sound, light, spatialization, and sensitive material, the viewer is no longer just an observer: they become an experimenter in a sensory state close to that of cetaceans, immersed in a non-human perceptual reality. This experience seeks to make people feel rather than explain, to move them to better understand, and to raise a deep awareness of ecological issues through emotional experience.
