Swiss artist Zimoun introduces a new sound installation at the Musée d’Arts de Nantes, transforming the Chapelle de l’Oratoire into a space of mechanical rhythm and meditative sound. The work, titled 528 prepared dc-motors, cotton balls, cardboard boxes 40x40x60 cm, 2025 (prototype), opens on November 7th, 2025, and will remain on view until March 1st, 2026, as part of the museum’s exhibition Sous la pluie. Peindre, vivre et rêver.
A living architecture of sound installation
Zimoun’s sound installation is a continuation of his long-standing exploration into movement, structure, and repetition. Using over 500 small cardboard boxes, cotton balls, and low-voltage DC motors, the artist creates a vast sonic environment where motion generates rhythm and resonance. Though built from identical materials, each element behaves independently, producing a subtly different vibration and tone. The result is an ever-shifting soundscape that hovers between order and chaos, simplicity and complexity.
Between precision and chance
Zimoun’s practice involves working with ordinary, often recycled materials to find poetry in mechanical processes and the tension between control and unpredictability. This installation invites visitors to experience the room as a living organism, offering an acoustic, visual and spatial experience. Within its minimalist construction lies a world of contrasts: individuality within repetition, precision alongside imperfection and the mechanical intertwined with the organic.
For the artist, these interactions echo larger questions about perception and reality. The work gestures toward phenomena such as pareidolia—the human tendency to find meaning in patterns—and invites quiet reflection on our relationship with systems, sound, and the surrounding world.
