Filmmaker Benjamin Juhel explores the physical process and internal universe of designer William Guillon, who extends his multidisciplinary sculptural practice in collaboration with dancer Nicole Muratov of L’Opera National de Bordeaux and production duo Maelstrom & Louisahhh.
Anatomy Of Chaos is a dark and visceral portrait of Bordelais designer and art director William Guillon, whose visceral sculptural practice is captured by filmmaker Benjamin Juhel, of Maison Mouton Noir. Working in collaboration with dancer Nicole Muratov of L’Opera National de Bordeaux and longtime production partners Maelstrom and Louisahhh, Guillon achieves a multidisciplinary extension of his singular style, which amplifies beauty in unconventional forms. Primarily working in cast bronze, a process documented in Anatomy Of Chaos, Guillon seeks to push past the limits of the material, crafting textural and complex works that seemingly draw as much influence form the natural world as they do from more esoteric and macabre places, forging towards a kind of contemporary gothic sculpture, part functional art, part alchemical instrument. His process is translated into movement by Muratov, whose twisted, instinctual physicality follows the gnarled, imperfect forms of Guillon’s sculpture. Putting the artist’s concept of functional art into haunting context, Guillon’s objects are revealed as part of some grander, transformative ritual, the result of his alchemical experimentation.
As though channeling the dark energy emanating from Guillon’s work, producers Maelstrom and Louisahhh lend their new track ‘If I Could Hold’ to Juhel and Guillon’s vision, which serves as the lead single for the collaborators’ long-awaited debut album, Sustained Resistance. A jagged reflection on the excruciating pains of the deepest love, ‘If I Could Hold’ sees Maelstrom and Louisahhh contorting their “punk for techno heads, techno for punks” sound into impassioned and foreboding new forms, invoking the frustration and paranoia of post-pandemic disillusionment. “It was a happy accident that the audio-visual universes collide so seamlessly, with both sonic and aesthetic teams sharing an appreciation of process, a relationship with the instinctual and divine work that is channeling and manifesting creation,” the duo explain. “The film explores the method, both in terms of metaphorical ‘chasing the muse’ (as represented by Nicole Muratov of L’Opera National de Bordeaux) and also literal: the carving, casting and shaping of raw materials that make up Guillon’s celebrated sculptural work. It is always a great pleasure when art creates more art, and it feels like the synergy between our music and William’s sculpture (as captured in this video) has created a new and thrilling ‘third thing’ that is almost unintentional, and therefore more magical.”
They continue. “We are really humbled to have gotten to work on this project, and the fact that the themes of ‘hunting the muse’, or the chaotic, ecstatic, sometimes painful act of creation are so dear to us and so present here mean a lot when it comes to a visual representation of our sound, and the announcement of this record.” Sustained Resistance arrives as the culmination of a creative partnership that dates back to 2013, when Louisahhh first visited Maelstrom in his base of Nantes. Following four collaborative EPs for Bromance Records and the start of their own label, RAAR, their debut album sees Maelstrom and Louisahhh and their most brutal at most beautiful, taking rage at broken systems of governance, grief for those lost over the last few turbulent years and determination to find new ways of thinking and being as the raw material for a loud and urgent testimony. Sustained Resistance is the sound of fighting back, at once a prescient diagnosis and a battle cry for the future.
‘If I Could Hold’ is taken from Sustained Resistance, which arrives via RAAR on February 10, 2023. You can find both Louisahhh and Maelstrom on Instagram.
For more information about William Guillon and his work, you can find him on Instagram and check out his website.
Anatomy Of Chaos Credits:
A Project By William Guillon
Director – Maison Mouton Noir
Music – Maelstrom & Louisahhh
Choreography & Dance – Nicole Muratov
Sound Design – Into The Wave Studio
Special Thanks – YNDO Hotel, Fonderie Des Cyclops, Ateliers Arquié, Undercover, Mairie De Saint Emilion, Foundation Banque Populaire
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