The Biennale Son highlights the growing importance of sound in contemporary art. Multidisciplinary, it overcomes the rigid boundaries between artistic disciplines to reveal their multiple convergences.
Installations, sculptures, two-dimensional works, films, texts, performances, concerts, performing arts and even silent works in which sound can be guessed in their conception: this event offers the public a rich and varied artistic experience.
Located in the Valais, it is part of a territory where heritage and innovation intersect. It also reflects the central role of the Sound department at EDHEA - The Valais School of Art, a pioneer in the teaching of this discipline for over 20 years.
The first edition, organized in autumn 2023 under the curatorship of Christophe Fellay, Jean-Paul Felley, Luc Meier and Sylvie Zavatta, made its mark with its sheer scale.
The second edition, curated by Jean-Paul Felley, director of the Biennale and Maxime Guitton, associate curator 2025, offers a program that promises to surprise and seduce, extending the momentum of the first edition. Sion, the event's capital, will host the main installations, performances and concerts at La Centrale, a vast modernist building, as well as at the Grange and Grenette of The Ferme-Asile , the Valais Museum of Art, the Lemme and the former Penitentiary. In Martigny, the Manoir de la Ville will be dedicated to Erratum Musical, a project by artist Pierre Leguillon, founder of the Musée des Erreurs.
The Biennale will also extend to other partner venues, including the Musée valaisan des Bisses in Ayent, the church of Saint-Nicolas in Hérémence, the Théâtre Les Halles in Sierre, the EDHEA, the Fondation Opale in Lens and the Musée de Bagnes in Le Châble.
For 13 weeks, this unique event will explore all facets of sound in contemporary art, while sublimating the spaces and heritage of the Valais to offer an immersive and memorable experience.
Participants in the second edition of the Biennale Son:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan / John Armleder / Alexandre Babel / Alexandra Bachzetsis / Vincent Barras performing John Cage and Dieter Roth, and in duo with Caroline de Cornière / Pierre Bastien / Martin Baus / Rossella Biscotti / Bernard Blistène / Julia Borderie & Éloïse Le Gallo / Alessandro Bosetti / Pauline Boudry - Renate Lorenz / Christophe Burgess / Pierre-Laurent Cassière / Catherine & Nicolas Ceresole / Lara Dâmaso / Hanne Darboven performed by Thomas Dahl / Melissa Dubbin & Aaron S. Davidson / Nina Emge / Attila Faravelli / Claire Frachebourg / Alex Ghandour / Fabrice Gygi / Eric Hattan with Oliver Senn / Ed. Héros-Limite with Rudi Decelière / Marie-Caroline Hominal / Roni Horn / Tom Johnson performed by Pierre Berthet / Pauline Julier / Annika Kahrs / Victoria Keddie / Paul Kos / Camille Lacroix with Marie-Bénédicte Cazeneuve & Sig Valax / Anne Le Troter / Pierre Leguillon, Erratum Musical with Josef Albers, Richard Avedon, Ben, Harry Bertoia, Marcel Broodthaers, Corentin Canesson, John Cage, Charlotte Centelighe, Matt Connors, Pablo Diserens, Stan Douglas, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Dupuy, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Charles & Ray Eames, Sylvie Eyberg & Olivia Degrez, Renée Green, Ana Jotta, Jannis Kounellis, Richard Hamilton, Takeshi Kosugi, Louise Lawler, André Messager, Annette Messager, George Nelson, Yazid Oulab, Nam June Paik, Gio Ponti, Mathias C. Pfund, Dieter Rams, Steve Roden, Qihang Li & Seokyung Kim, Dieter Roth, Erik Satie, etc. / Camille Llobet / Carsten Nicolai / Philippe Quesne / Lucy Railton / Basile Richon with Rémy Bender / Sébastien Robert / Ugo Rondinone / Ryan R / Andrea Salustri / Tomoko Sauvage / Soundwalk Collective, Invisible Landscape with Anika, Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nan Goldin, Evan Hughes, Jim Jarmusch, Natalia Lafourcade / Cally Spooner / Structurals with Noémi Büchi, Echoes of Archs, Thomas Laigle, Leoni Leoni, Mitospora, Monocolor / Raphael Stucky / Latai Taumoepeau / Lauren Tortil / Maximilien Urfer / Cindy Van Acker / Reinier van Houdt & Alessandro Bosetti / Byron Westbrook / Tiran Willemse & Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi) / Winter Family / La poésie s’honore curated by Vincent Barras with Michèle Métail, Thierry Raboud, Cia Rinne, Jonathan Dumani, Olivier Cadiot, Julien d’Abrigeon, Laura Vazquez