BAD BLOCK

Immersive and interactive sound objects show / From 12 years old (15 years old in school sessions)

  • By : Céline Garnavault & Thomas Sillard
  • Staging : Céline Garnavault
  • Creation : October 2024 - International Festival of Arts of Bordeaux Metropolis
BAD BLOCK is on networks:
Season Calendar

Sensations put in a box. You are now equipped with a funny translucent cube. You manipulate it. It lights up, blinks, rustles... then whispers and comes to life! Welcome to the universe of BAD BLOCK: the new immersive experience by the Bordeaux artists Céline Garnavault and Thomas Sillard, blending theater, sound arts, digital arts, puppetry, and new magic. Their creation takes us on an unusual adventure, a dive into a bewildering sensory and sensitive experience. How, from play and technology, unexpected interactions and a common language can arise. Inspiring or thought-provoking, the encounter is within reach of cubes, in your hands!


Supports

Photos

Videos

Press

The Inrockuptibles

This confrontation with strange “blocks” suspended in space is worthy of a close encounter, an invitation to dialogue with unidentified objects from a distant galaxy. Connected speakers, these interactive “blocks,” some of which are entrusted to the public, invite us to dive into a rich imagination of sound and light creations. As disconcerting as it is unusual, their presence guarantees a delightful evening full of surprises.

Rue 89 Bordeaux

BAD BLOCK AND YOU. The Bordeaux company La Boîte à sel continues its sound explorations with Bad Block, a show with a playful and participatory setup.

Read More

Full Description

thomasceline-2-1750412137.jpgINTERVIEW WITH CÉLINE GARNAVAULT AND THOMAS SILLARD

Can you pitch BAD BLOCK in 1 minute flat?

Bad block is an extraordinary work for a small community of spectators. A hybrid experience that is different each time, blending sound arts, puppet arts, new magic, immersion, interactivity, and theater. The audience enters an acousmonium, which is an orchestra of loudspeakers, and is invited to sit down. Each person is given a block – which can be defined as an augmented puppet – that will accompany them throughout the show. At first glance, they expect to attend a concert of connected sound objects.

The show begins with the listening of an immersive sound piece broadcasted by the 104 loudspeakers present, with astonishing and dynamic spatialization that directly plunges the spectators into a cosmic universe. Gradually, the spectators are invited to manipulate the objects to co-create soundscapes and musical parts. Then, the blocks begin to come to life and interact with each other. The boundary between humans and objects becomes increasingly porous as the blocks start to respond to them and gain their independence... The magic then happens: through play and attentive listening to the objects, new relationships are woven between the spectators and the blocks!

It is both disconcerting – as it is hard to understand how all this works! – and poetic. Gently, without ever being forced, the audience and the objects gradually form a small assembly: a joyful and attentive community whose exchanges often last well beyond the time of the show!

BAD BLOCK, why this title?

Because it is the name of the objects we created. This term refers to various things, depending on the meaning one wants to give them: construction game pieces, cubes, parts of a whole...

BAD, because what fascinates us in our research is working on the relationship to what the essayist Emanuele Quinz calls "behavioral objects." These are objects to which we attribute life, autonomy, and which are all the more alive when they resist, act in unexpected ways, challenge us, and engage us in ways that are sometimes burlesque, sometimes unsettling.

Read More

Team
  • A show by: Céline Garnavault & Thomas Sillard
  • Direction and co-writing : Céline Garnavault
  • Sound creation/connected objects and co-writing : Thomas Sillard
  • Performance and co-writing : Mathieu Enderlin
  • Puppet collaboration and co-writing : Matthias Sebbane
  • Sound and connected objects assistance: Mathieu Ducarre
  • Direction assistance: Pauline Archer
  • Lights: Dominique Pain and Chloé Agag
  • Guest researcher: Emma Mérabet
  • Musical collaboration: Frédéric Lebrasseur (Québec) and Rémi Foucard
  • Scenography/light collaboration: Luc Kérouanton
  • Scenography collaboration : Olivier Droux
  • Sound management alternation: Thomas Sillard & Mathieu Ducarre
  • Construction : Daniel Péraud, Pierre Airault
  • Costumes: Stéfani Giquiaud and Caroline Di Paolo
  • Voice collaboration: Jérôme Thibault, Stéphanie Cassignard, Hadrien Rouchard, Anne Charneau
  • Thanks: Christof Ressi from the Institute of Electronic Music in Graz, Fablab Ben
  • Voice thanks: Hélène Bosch, Karim Chérif, Hala Ghosn, Nicolas Petisoff, Sébastien Raymond, Nino Portello, Vanessa Vallée, Marie-Laure Crochant and Jérémy Colas.
  • The text of BAD BLOCK includes an excerpt from Antigone by Sophocles, translation by Florence Dupont, © L’Arche éditeur & theatrical agency, 2000.
  • Production director : Kristina Deboudt
  • Production / distribution manager : France Fiévet
  • Production / logistics manager : Jessica Bodard
  • General management company : Raphaël Môles
  • Accounting and salaries : Marie Rossard
  • Production advice 2020/23: Bureau Hectores
  • Artistic collaboration lab 22 and 20: Adélaïde Poulard and Jérôme Thibault

Production

PRODUCTION

  • Cie La Boîte à sel

COPRODUCTION 

  • OARA - Artistic Office of the NEW AQUITAINE Region
  • National Scene of ANGOULÊME (16)
  • Carré-Colonnes - National Scene BORDEAUX METROPOLE (33)
  • The Jéliote space - National Center for Puppetry - OLORON SAINTE MARIE (64)
  • The Theatre of 4 seasons - GRADIGNAN (33)
  • La Mégisserie - Conventioned Scene - SAINT JUNIEN (87)
  • Zéphyr Production Fund - Youth platform Nouvelle-Aquitaine - in cooperation with the DRAC NEW AQUITAINE
  • L'Hectare - National Center for Puppetry - VENDÔME (81)
  • The Tangram - National Scene - ÉVREUX (27)
  • The Sky - European Scene for Childhood and Youth - LYON (69)
  • The Abbey of Noirlac - Cultural Meeting Center - NOIRLAC (18)
  • Connected Cultures - Region Nouvelle Aquitaine and Drac of Nouvelle Aquitaine

SUPPORT

  • The Company La Boîte à sel is conventioned by the Ministry of Culture - DRAC Nouvelle Aquitaine, and supported in its operation by the Region Nouvelle Aquitaine, the City of Bordeaux and the Department of Gironde.
Read More

Diffusion

SEASON 25/26

  • 09/24 to 09/26/2025 > IN of the World Festival of Puppet Theatres / CHARLEVILLE MÉZIÈRES (08)
  • 11/07 to 11/09/2025 > Export-Import Festival / BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
  • 04/07 and 04/08/2026 > Noob Festival - The Spark / PONT-AUDEMER (27)
  • 04/24 and 04/25/2026 > Théâtre Le Reflet / TRESSES (33)
  • 05/22 to 05/24/2026 > Festival Les AnthropoScènes / ÉVREUX (27)
  • 05/28 to 05/29/2026 > Le Méta - CDN / POITIERS (86)
Read More