This performance was shot at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal on 2021-02-01.
You walk into the workshop to find a musician who plays not the piano, not the saxophone but… the sponge. Yes, yes, you read that right! Martin Marier is the inventor of a fascinating electroacoustic instrument that has the shape of a SPONGE! Let’s see what this intriguing foam contraption sounds like… !
https://nac-cna.ca/en/video/martin-marier-bb2021
22marbles (Véro Marengère and Martin Marier) streamed a live performance on May 6, 2020 at 16:00 UTC-04:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbKxtXQ-Koo
22marbles is a composition and performance project by Martin Marier and Véro Marengère. Playing a digital instrument invented by Martin Marier – the sponge – the composers create a unique and playful space for improvisation. Risks and vulnerability are seen as pathways that lead to an intensely focused listening. We see this approach as a way to blur the lines between composition and improvisation.
The performance took place in the Rotary Band Shell and was part of the Luminocity Festival (2018-10-19). The show comprised three pieces: two solo improvisations and a duet called Origami (performed by Émilie Payeur and Martin Marier).
I was invited to NAISA North Media Arts Centre in South River, Ontario for a short residency during which I performed for a radio show. On January 17 2018, I performed live on NAISA radio for Art’s Birthday. https://soundcloud.com/naisa/martin-marier-at-naisa-arts-birthday-performance
This performance, another one and a discussion were recorded on January 17 and 19, 2018 and were then broadcasted on Wave Farm radio in March 2018. The show is available on their website. You can hear two sponge performances and an interview led by Darren Copeland. https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/qyc6rr
The Quintette d’éponges numéro un was premiered at Eastern Bloc on October 20, 2017. It was performed by Preston Beebe, Ana Dall’Ara Majek, Francis Lecavalier, Émilie Payeur and myself.
Sponge Quintet #1 (premiere 2017-10-20) from Martin Marier on Vimeo.
Performance in Montreal on February 17th 2017. This is a mixte piece for sponge and fixed media. The fixed media track was composed for an expanded cinema performance by Amanda Dawn Christie titled “Where Ocean Meets Air”.
Journalist Jérôme Labbé made a nice report on the sponge. Watch and read on the Société Radio-Canada page.
