Since 2012, and thanks to the support from the Creative Europe Program, the ULYSSES Network has been dedicated to the promotion of young talented artists in the field of contemporary music. In reaction to the pandemic and the difficulty to organise physical gatherings, the ULYSSES Network proposed a series of online seminars directed to young artists, focussing on specific topics related to the development of their international career. The positive feedback received from our young artist community has motivated us to continue with the series, even after the end of the pandemic.

For each meeting, an invited speaker shortly presents a specific topic, and opens the floor  to give the participants the occasion to discuss this topic together, to address questions and share their personal experiences.  At the end of each meeting, an « Open Space » allows some of the participants to present their own projects and to exchange with their young fellow artists.

#6 Tuesday 8th November 2022, 3pm CET
Speaker: Andrea Cera, sound designer and composer

Topic: This encounter could be an occasion to reflect on the generic notions of “success” and “failure” in music, and to imagine different ways of finding relevance and usefulness in a perpetually mutating society.

In the words of Cera: ‘I’ve had an atypical career, in which the quest for a steady low-profile strategy has interlocked with inevitable cycles of visibility.  Following advice from several mentors at IRCAM, I kept on following multiple and seemingly contradictory courses : underground and no-budget activities; commercial projects; established patronages; scientific and industrial research. Longevity has been the result of this diversification, possible thanks to the infinite functions that today’s society offers to music and sound design.  To avoid being sucked into the “disposable” logic that governs cultural industries, a vital part of my strategy has consisted in keeping a critical point of view. Deconstruction, hybridation, low-intrusiveness, aspiration to elegance : these are a few of the keys to this critical attitude.

Speaker bio:

Cera is an Italian sound designer and composer. He received a classical training in piano and composition from Padova’s Conservatory and a formation in computer music from IRCAM-Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has created over 40 soundtracks for contemporary dance, theatre works, and hybrid forms of installation. In 2008, Cera joined the staff of Casa Paganini-InfoMus (University of Genova) in research projects about cross-modality and human movement sonification. Later, he began a collaboration with IRCAM’s STMS Lab and Renault, for the design of electric cars’ sound signatures, from Renault Zoé (2012)to Megane E-Tech (2022). His most recent project is the sound design for “The Insomnia SketchBook”, a robotic installation by the Taiwanese collective LuxuryLogico, co-produced by IRCAM and C-LAB and presented in Taipei in November 2021.