Colours of Sound: Tenth Edition of Parcours Saint-Germain

The tenth edition of Parcours Saint-Germain, titled 'Colours of Sound', took place from June 3 to 17, 2010, across multiple venues in Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. Initiated by Anne-Pierre d'Albis-Ganem, the event saw artists occupying fashion boutiques (Dior, Sonia Rykiel), iconic bars (Les Deux Magots, Café de Flore), and hotels (Lutétia). The 2009 edition, 'Playtime', focused on play, featuring Shen Yuan's Lego wall at Kenzo, Nicolas Bufle's rocking elephant with an obelisk at Place Saint-Germain, and Agnès Thurnauer's feminist badge paintings at Dior. This year's theme centered on sound and music iconography. Russian artist Victor Alimpiev's video, screened in a chapel of Saint-Germain-des-Prés church, depicted an opera singer translating a young woman's whispered breath into music. At Place Saint-Germain, Brazilian artist Elaine Tedesco, in residence at the Sam Arts Project foundation (directed by Sandra and Amaury Mulliez), erected an elegant bird observatory made of exotic hardwood with shutters, playing South American bird songs contrasting with traffic noise. Evenings featured projections on the church facade. Some sound works were silent, like Anya Zholud's hollow metal piano at Dior and Charles Matton's miniature pianist's salon in a box at La Hune bookstore. Gregor Hildebrandt's stretched cassette tapes in Louis Vuitton's window emitted a faint rustle, evoking spring. The event was reviewed by Richard Leydier.