Les frères Baschet: Sound Sculptures at Mercier & associés

Mercier & associés, a new Parisian gallery specializing in architecture and design from the 1950s-80s, presents a retrospective of Bernard and François Baschet (born 1917 and 1920). The exhibition features their sound sculptures, which require audience participation. The first such work, the Cristal Baschet (1952), consists of crystal rods that produce guttural sounds when stroked with moistened fingers, amplified by corrugated stainless steel resonators. Other pieces include the Zig Zag (1969), Grande Percussion (1969), Tôle à voix (1969), and Sept Croix (1963). In 1965, the Baschet brothers exhibited at MoMA in New York, where director Alfred Barr called their work 'the only new thing to come from Europe since the war.' Photographer and filmmaker William Klein, with his wife Janine, commissioned fifteen dresses made of folded aluminum sheet for his film 'Qui êtes-vous Polly Maggo?' (1966, produced by Robert Delpire). The iconic fashion show scene was shot in architect André Bloc's sculpture-habitat in Meudon. The gallery displays these dresses on hangers alongside the film and preparatory models. The exhibition closes on September 25 with a concert.