Blog - Lumlux Art

A Score Made From Conditions

In from here to ear v.26, around one hundred zebra finches moved through a room containing roughly twenty amplified electric guitars. When a bird landed on a string, bridge or control, its weight and movement could produce a note, vibration or burst of noise. No performance repeated in a fixed form because the birds determined when contact occurred.

Calling the finches musicians is tempting, but the work is more precise when understood as a designed set of conditions. Céleste Boursier-Mougenot chose the instruments, amplification, layout and environment. The birds introduced events that the system could make audible but not schedule. Composition moved away from arranging notes in time and toward arranging possible encounters.

The 2026 presentation at MAAT in Lisbon also made the practical structure visible. The finches were bred in Portugal, acclimatised before the exhibition, monitored daily by a specialist team and returned to their breeder afterward. Those details do not sit outside the artwork. A living installation depends on care, limits and routine as much as it depends on chance.

What remains unpredictable is small: a landing, a hop, a string briefly disturbed. Amplification enlarges that action until the room notices it.

https://maat.pt/en/event/celeste-boursier-mougenot-here-ear

#CelesteBoursierMougenot #SoundInstallation #ElectricGuitar #GenerativeArt

A Score Made From Conditions MAAT Céleste Boursier-Mougenot : from here to ear | MAAT For his first-ever exhibition in Portugal, French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot presents one of his most iconic works: from here to ear v.26. As a composer, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot arranges sound structures in space like physical scores, naturally bringing his music into the realm of contemporary art. He creates the conditions for a permanent musical composition that is both random and perfectly controlled. In this piece, visitors are invited to walk through a room filled with some twenty electric guitars played by unusual performers: zebra finches – small birds that perch freely onto the instruments. More than a simple sound installation, the work is above all an invitation to align one’s perception, movements, and behavior with those of these winged performers. Two worlds within a single space are united in the resonances of music that never ceases to unfold. Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has held numerous exhibitions at prestigious institutions worldwide. These include the Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2009), the Barbican Centre in London (2010), the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and the Centre Pompidou-Metz (2015), SFMOMA in San Francisco (2017), and, more recently, the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection in Paris (2025), and the Park Avenue Armory in New York (2026). He represented France at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, curated by Emma Lavigne. The one hundred zebra finches featured in the installation were bred in Portugal by a specialized breeder. Native to Australia, the zebra finch was selected for its highly social nature and its strong and prompt capacity to adapt to new environments. The group consists of fifty males and fifty females, which will undergo a period of acclimatization to the space and its conditions prior to the exhibition’s opening to the public. Throughout the exhibition period, the environment of the installation is carefully controlled. The birds’ welfare and hygiene conditions are ensured on a daily basis by a specialized team responsible for feeding, cleaning, and monitoring their health. The presentation fully complies with all legal and regulatory requirements applicable to this type of project, in accordance with the guidelines of the relevant authorities. At the end of the exhibition, the birds will return to their original breeder, ensuring the continuity of appropriate living conditions.