About

1 – PROJECT GENERATION
// Together]h[iatus and the Ryoanji Association
Musicians and founding members of the European contemporary music ensemble ]h[iatus, Martine Altenburger and Lê Quan Ninh settled in Creuse in 2007.
From there, they lead their musical journey, both with the ensemble and with other collaborations and projects, which lead them to cross France and the world.
The ensemble]h[iatus is an international ensemble of contemporary music whose vocation is to explore the repertoire, to generate new works while questioning and developing the practice of improvisation.
The projects of the ensemble]h[iatus fully reflect this reality: more than interpreting pieces of the repertoire of the 20th and 21st century, it is a matter of proposing paths combining written pieces and improvisations in a permanent oscillation between the two disciplines. The long-tested experiences of interpretation and improvisation underpin the unique vision of contemporary music that the ensemble wants to share: music not only from those who write but also from those who play it, who are, in a way, daily on the sound field, who experience its transformations due to a patient proximity to the musical material and instrument.

The Ryoanji Association has been working on the work carried out and the artistic requirements of the proposed projects, and has been contracted by the DRAC and the New Aquitaine Region since 2012 and regularly receives support from organizations such as the French Institute, SACEM, SPEDIDAM, ADAMI, OARA and according to projects, European schemes, aid from municipalities, communities of municipalities, etc.

// Development of the Creuse project since 2009
To register a cultural project in Creuse is to take into consideration and listen to a rural territory composed of communes, communities of communes, landscapes, heritages, cultural actors and associations, resources that participate together in the vitality and development of the department.
Thus, the Ryoanji association's approach is conceived and nurtured by these contexts to meet the inhabitants and the public, questioning public and private spaces, intimate and collective, at the rhythm of time and seasons.
Since 2009, the Ryoanji association has offered on the territory of Creusois the series of concerts In Bruit Secret, workshops of artistic practice, meetings Æenter(s), conferences/discussion.
The creation of the Festival Le Noise de la Musique (2013-2024) has enhanced visibility and allowed us to deepen the ability to offer demanding contemporary music in a family context, welcoming with ease.
The projects of the Ryoanji association were disseminated on the department thanks to the reception and partnership woven with many municipalities: Saint-Silvain-sous-Toulx, Toulx-Sainte-Croix, Domeyrot, Gouzon, La-Celle-sous-Gouzon, Jarnages, Bétête, Eymoutiers, Chambon-sur-Voueize, Évaux-les-Bains, Boussac, Boussac-Bourg, Guéret, Ahun, le Mouthier-d-Ahun, Aubusson, Felletin, Faux- la Montagne and Gentioux.

2 – EPICENTRE, listening and meeting space for contemporary music in rural areas
// A place in Jarnages
The municipality of Jarnages hosted and supported the rehabilitation of the former slaughterhouses for the establishment of the Ryoanji association. Epicentre is now the landmark of our activity, with project presentations, rehearsals, meetings, discussions, concerts, artist residences. A inhabited place where people can feel whatever the time of week or day, if they open the door, there is always a ready coffee and something to trade.
To take another picture, Épicentre is this base camp that is laid in the mountains, to go walking, to meet and climb the summits as different as they are from each other.

// A resonance between the associated set ]h[iatus and the territory project

Meetings are organised throughout the process of creation with the musicians of the ensemble, the composers in the framework of the actions set up in the territory (schools, media libraries, « Discussion »).
Cultural action is thus fully associated with the creation work of the whole and with the projects of dissemination of the place.

// A Tissue of Cross-Relationship

• Provoking the meeting
  
  Epicentre is at the crossroads of these crossings.
• Linking training and creation, learning and live performance
  The activity from Épicentre to Jarnages is organised in order to allow the transmission of knowledge through multiple formats, giving priority to meeting all audiences, families, amateurs, professionals and very young audience.
  The project is dedicated to the intersections between training times for professional musicians, professionals in childhood and early childhood, initiation courses for amateur audiences, discovery workshops for schools and programming dedicated to musical creation.

// Mastery of work
The place is structured into three spaces: the administrative offices, the recording studio, the rehearsal and meeting room (concerts, internships, conferences, etc.).

// Team
The association's team consists of an artistic council provided by Lê Quan Ninh, a development, public relations and mediation officer, Martine Altenburger.
About 50 intermittent musicians and technicians from the show are hired·Each year by the association.

3 – PROJECT DETAIL
// Regular meetings for distribution

NOW:

It's Sunday Morning!
Every Sunday at 11 a.m., an appointment around a listening, a residency exit, a screening, a discussion... this at the time of the Jarnages market. Free.

The Sonore Solstices : Four dates from summer solstice until mid July: The Meetings of Improvisation, the Sonaturadays, L'OTRSON and Sonore grocery store.

ARCHIVES:

• Meetings The aim is to question and build bridges between contemporary music and other fields that contribute to the same reflection on our society. Initiated in May 2017 in Naillat near Dun-le-Palestel, the first edition « The Weed Perspective » brought together musicians and dancers – Lê Quan Ninh, Martine Altenburger, Aurélie Maisonneuve, David Subal - gardeners – Gilles Clément, Jean-Etienne Perez – , residents, listeners throughout a day articulated between artistic proposals, meals, exchanges.
  The thought shared brought together the notions of noise and weed or how the cross-experiments now allow us to welcome what was considered excluded before.
  The second edition of the Meetings « Animal? » took place at the Mouthier in Ahun in April 2019. From 10.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., the proposals were structured between concert, workshops, performance, discussion and conference.
  Raising predation issues by referring to the presence of the wolf on the Millevache plateau in Creuse, the discussion focused on the notions of respect for social, aesthetic and environmental diversity.
  The 3rd Meetings will focus on listening in general. How do I listen, what do I listen to, where do I listen, etc. Each meeting is the subject of a special work with pupils from schools and secondary schools in the territory. Ahun Agricultural High School students attended the second meetings « Animal? » by creating a documentary film whose subject was their relationship to animals, work animals, pets and performed two pieces from the contemporary repertoire: the play « But what about the noise of cramped paper ... » by John Cage and the Narayana Cows of Tom Johnson.
• At Noise Secret / Concerts
  Initiated in 2009 at the Chapelle de la Sénatorerie in Guéret, the programs of these concerts are developed around selected themes and each time different: the Approach to Duration, the Approach to Silence, the Persistence of Lyrism, Spectral Music, Sensory Experience, Situational Music, Word and Sound, Metaphorus: Music and Computer Science, Stone Music, Minimalism in Music, etc.
  So many open paths to better understand contemporary music and better understand its immense diversity. A discussion moderated by the performers settles at the end of the concert in order to explore ways of thinking that allow us to create a closeness to these often unknown musical practices.
  Gradually, a network of rooms and partnerships was built and allowed a presence in a wide area of Creus throughout the year: Guéret, Aubusson, le-Moutier-d'Ahun, Ahun, Felletin, Gouzon, La-Celle-sous-Gouzon, Bétête, Boussac, Chambon sur Voueize, Faux-la-Montagne, Beaumont-du-Lac, Limoges, etc., all of these places, all of which were shared in a great simplicity around remarkable new works and fully inscribed in the movement of contemporary musical creation.
• A Quiet Night
  Three associations meet in the heart of winter to host a day at the Alzire cultural hostel. Ryoanji, La Métive and Radio Pays de Guéret propose several projects around a theme. Projects can include public workshops, concerts, videocasts, music games and discussions.
  The hostel welcomes the project in its spaces and offers the meal. This project requires a precise and constructed agreement between the three organizers. The structure of the day balances discussion, listening, participation, exchanges, meals.
• Festival the Noise of Music
  Created in 2013, the 3 days of the festival The Noise of Music allow to experience the discovery of contemporary music with intensity. Combining a warm welcome and a great demand in its programming, this highlight of the project was able to attract an audience from all over France as well as many people from the department. The festival in a few figures:
  The 2018 edition brought together 14 projects and 27 artists The festival team consists of 5 administrators, a team of three decorators, two cooks and 22 volunteers. In 2018, 1559 entries were distributed. A participatory project was proposed to the public Eine Brise de Mauricio Kagel for 111 cyclists.
• Author documentary film festival
  Viewing a documentary film helps to anchor the history of contemporary music in the development of a society. A filmmaker like Laurence Petit-jouvet was able to look at musicians, aesthetics by integrating the human environment in which artists are immersed.
  A program will be designed in collaboration with the Tenk association, specializing in documentary film in Lussas.
• Creation and Small Childhood Festival
  The presence of contemporary music with childhood and early childhood in Ryoanji's projects in the territory began in 2013 as part of the festival's programming The Noise of Music and in season, in 2017 in Evaux les bains with the Animalitas project. Three other projects were proposed in Evaux les bains and Jarnages in 2018 and 2019.
  

// Artistic actions for all audiences
Free workshops for experimentation and creative autonomy

Weekly early childhood workshops are provided by Stella Cohen-Hadria and Martine Altenburger. A true initiation to listening and music.

• The Talks
  The Discussions are moments of reflection shared around a question, an aesthetic, an artist present. They are animated by Lê Quan Ninh and allow to say questions, express anxiety, astonishment, upheaval.
  Discussions take place, for example, in the department's media libraries.
• Participatory projects
  Each year, participatory projects are offered to the public. The Fanfare de la Touffe came to Jarnages in 2017 and to the festival in 2018. Eine Brise, play for 111 cyclists by Mauricio Kagel was played during the 2018 festival. Since 2024,OTRSON Treatise by composer Cornelius Cardew, a graphic work conducive to multiple interpretations.

// workshops with crèches, schools, colleges, high schools
The Ryoanji association as well as Lê Quan Ninh and Martine Altenburger are registered in an accreditation process with the academic inspection of New Aquitaine in order to develop a presence at different levels of national education.
Since 2017, workshops have been conducted in partnership with schools in Évaux-les-Bains, Guéret, Parsac and Jarnages. The project will extend the network of partner schools with Épicentre.

// A recording studio
The recording studio is a very important tool for the transmission of creation. Equipped with very high quality material, it allows artists to work and record in the best conditions.

// Projects in residence

4 – PARTNERSHIPS

Ces deux structures culturelles ont partagé les projets de l’ensemble]h[iatus à plusieurs reprises depuis 2009.
// avec le réseau économique et associatif de proximité
Épicentre construit son projet en relation étroite avec la médiathèque Le Chat Pitre, l’association La Moustache ainsi que Centre de Loisirs de Jarnages.
L’équipe de l’association Ryoanji travaille activement à la mise en place d’une éthique écologique pour l’organisation du projet. Ils sont très attentifs à privilégier les circuits courts et les produits biologiques.
Ainsi, le festival s’était attaché pour l’organisation des repas à privilégie les circuits courts en achetant les produits biologiques aux maraîcher·es locales et à ne pas utiliser de vaisselle jetable. Une vaisselle collective est mise en place. De même pour le bar, les verres sont consignés et lavés. Des toilettes sèches sont installées sur le site.
// avec les structures de diffusion et de création en France et à l’étranger
Les projets de l’ensemble]h[iatus et la reconnaissance nationale et internationale du travail artistique du percussionniste Lê Quan Ninh permettent de mettre en valeur le lieu Épicentre à travers un prisme mondialisé.
Inscrit pleinement dans son territoire, Épicentre est un lieu de création contemporaine d’avant-garde où l’expérimentation et la recherche forment les bases sans concession de son projet.