Passepartout Duo's Vis-à-Vis: A Design-Infused Album from Shanghai Residency

Passepartout Duo, formed four years ago by pianist Nicoletta Favari (from Verona) and percussionist Christopher Salvito, released their album Vis-à-Vis on April 10, 2020. The project originated from their first trip to China and a proposal from a Beijing design firm to use handmade instruments. The duo handled everything from instrument design to composition, recording, and vinyl design. The album, created with Beijing curatorial platform AnyOne, features colored cut-out sheets that can be overlaid to create geometric figures matching the music's rhythms. During their residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, they are developing a modular synthesizer and experimenting with the carillon, fascinated by electronic and mechanical sound production. A planned seven-stop China tour with AnyOne founders Yannis Zhang and Yumo Wu, including performances at galleries, museums, and music salons, plus a video in Yunnan mountains, was postponed due to COVID-19. One venue was a building designed by Renzo Piano in Hangzhou for fashion brand JNBY. The duo's approach paraphrases Charles Eames: embracing constraints creatively.