About
Harilay Rabenjamina (he/him) is a Paris-based artist whose practice encompasses films, performance, installation, sculpture and musical composition. His work builds stories to explore the need and cost of being audible and visible and the tensions this produces in the resulting spectacle. Recent presentations include Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris (2023), CAPC musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux (2022), Auto Italia, London (2022) and Théâtre Arsenic – Les Urbaines, Lausanne (2021).
Project
For his association, Rabenjamina is researching and developing a new concept album that will be developed into a staged production, with the working title Attention(s). The album explores the narrative of a character going through a process of creative awakening, with track titles including When You Believe, Tokenon, Enlightened, and collaborations with singers Embaci, Thelia, Malibu and Jean-Marc Anthony Kabuya. The project draws together different artistic formats in order to explore and highlight the different attentions, levels or types of engagement afforded across different media.
The first stage of his association will focus on musical production, including training in DJing, and collaboration with lyricists and producers. This will be partly produced in Madagascar, with musicians including Joel Rabesolo and Rija Randrianivosoa whose musical styles exemplify the influence of Bach on traditional Madagascan music.
The concept album will then form the basis for R+D’s to develop a script. These will be further developed through table reads, dramaturgical mentoring and eventually rehearsals.
The staged production will bring together live orchestral instrumentation and a soundtrack formed from a mixture of different clips filmed between Madagascar and France and the performance of the script. Target collaborations include cellist Oliver Coates.
The final aim would then be to collaborate with a record label to arrange a vinyl release for the album. Target platforms include purge.xxx, Perfect Lives, Otoroku, Prah Recordings, STROOM.tv, PAN.
