Context

In 2018, Théo Girard founded Pensées Rotatives, a 15-piece orchestra featuring double bass, drums, and wind instruments. In 2026, the ensemble will perform Stabile/Mobile, a new repertoire inspired by Alexander Calder (1898–1976), a major figure in kinetic art.

This project extends Earle Brown’s work on Calder’s Chef d’Orchestre (1964) but takes it further: here, the orchestra itself becomes a Mobile, a constantly evolving entity.

Stabile/Mobile transforms the orchestra into a musical sculpture, oscillating between Stabile and Mobile. Balance (harmony, timbre) and movement (polytempo, fluidity, inertia) are at the core of this creation.

Like a museum visitor exploring an artwork from different angles, the audience is invited into an immersive experience. In Calder’s work, one can move around Stabiles or observe the subtle motion of Mobiles, animated by invisible forces. Similarly, this project blends concert and installation, creating a moving orchestra that interacts with its audience.

Some listeners will move around, discovering different perspectives, while others will remain at the core (double bass, drums), letting the music flow around them.

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Alexander Calder (1898–1976)

After exploring painting and figurative sculpture—notably with Le Cirque de Calder—Calder developed a unique sculptural language based on movement and balance. Applied to music, this approach opens up new creative possibilities.

I admire his empirical method, blending precision and intuition. Whether in Roxbury (Connecticut) or Saché (France), Calder combined meticulous craftsmanship with artistic freedom.

In 1940, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote:

"Calder does not suggest movement, he captures it. He seizes real, living movements and sculpts them. [...] His Mobiles are strange beings, halfway between matter and life."

Calder revolutionized 20th-century sculpture, first using motors, then embracing natural forces. His precisely crafted metal structures exude hypnotic balance.

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Composition Principles

Calder’s Mobiles transform external forces—wind, light—into movement. This concept inspires the structural approach of the music:

• Stability: the core (double bass, drums).

• Mobility: wind instruments, arranged in a circle around the audience.

Several musical principles emerge from Calder’s work:

• Movement: Inspired by Cône d’Ébène (1933), a three-piece Mobile, the rotation speeds of each part will be analyzed to structure the orchestra into three tempo-based sections.

• Balance: Black Areas (1938) plays with wood and metal density, inspiring a contrast between low-register instruments (tenor saxophones) and high ones (flutes, trumpets).

• Interaction: The music will integrate real-time instructions reacting to the audience’s presence and movements.

• Structure: Calder’s Clangors (1942), composed of four interlocking elements producing unique sounds, will serve as a model for a composition built on dynamic melodic and harmonic interactions.

Other compositional principles will be inspired by the spaces where Calder’s Mobiles and Stabiles have been displayed and celebrated:

• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: In the museum’s helical ramp, Théo envisions positioning his musicians in a way that harnesses the venue’s acoustics, creating a piece sculpted by light and reverberation.

• Whitney Museum of American Art: Its cubist structure, home to Le Cirque de Calder, will inspire a piece infused with movement and melodic acrobatics reminiscent of Calder’s legendary work.

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): Mobile with 14 Flags, a gift from Calder, serves as a starting point for the creation of an original Mobile (see below).

• Centre Pompidou: Calder’s Two-Level Mobile (1962), a donation to the museum, will inspire a new composition, incorporating its 17 elements and six colors (white, blue, orange, yellow, red, black) to explore the relationship between visual form and sonic texture.

• Fondation Maeght: L’Empennage (1953), composed of five smaller pieces and one larger counterweight, will guide a composition where the orchestra is divided into six sections, each embodying the balance and motion of Calder’s work.

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A Unique Instrument, An Original Mobile

Inspired by Calder’s engineering, Théo Girard will design a unique percussive instrument, crafted from Calder’s signature materials: wood, metal, and, as an unusual binding element, rope.

This instrument will take two complementary forms:

• Individual: Each musician will have one, integrating a collective rhythmic piece that sculpts the orchestra’s sonic space.

• Orchestral: As a Mobile anchored to the ground, it will echo Chef d’Orchestre and Earle Brown’s work, becoming the drummer’s instrument and a key component of the performance.

The first Pensées Rotatives project demonstrated its potential both on stage and in the studio. Like Calder’s Mobiles, where external forces dictate movement, I integrate audience presence and motion as key musical elements.

Pensées Rotatives also functions as a dynamic system, akin to a complex pendulum, where interconnected elements respond to unpredictable forces (gravity, inertia, resistance). Chance and structure hold equal weight in the music.

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France-USA Connection

Calder had strong ties to France, living there during two key periods:

• 1926–1933: Marcel Duchamp named his works Mobiles.

• 1950s onward: He settled in Saché, now a world-renowned artist residency.

Théo Girard’s musical journey has led him regularly to the U.S., where he has deepened his understanding of jazz and improvisation. During each visit, he returns to the MoMA and Whitney Museum in New York, home to Le Cirque de Calder.

At the intersection of two continents, the project will unfold between the U.S. and Europe, with a unique orchestra at each stop. Built around a core of double bass and drums, local wind musicians will be invited to join, shaping a site-specific ensemble in every city.

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Looking Ahead

As I embark on this new creation, I know I will draw inspiration from Calder’s intensity and ingenuity—a force that continues to shape my artistic vision.