Grégory Dargent + Bethnal Greener
Grégory Dargent: Soleil d’Hiver
Grégory Dargent presents “Soleil d’Hiver” (“Winter Sun”), a solo audiovisual performance featuring the oud, electronic media, magnetic film, and projections, in which he explores his family history, memory, loss, and the way in which the experience of uprooting is passed down from generation to generation. As the son of a Frenchman who left Algeria in 1961, he wonders to what extent this legacy contributed to his own decision to take up the oud twenty years ago. Through music and photography, Dargent searches for traces of a world he inherited, without ever having lived in it.
In 2024 and 2025, the project took shape through artist residencies and meetings in Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Greece, and France. Dargent composed, photographed, filmed, and recorded ambient sounds and improvisations with musicians from both the traditional and experimental scenes. This material informs both the auditory and visual dimensions of the performance.
Dargent combines his live performance with recordings from his travels in real time, shifting from acoustic sound to ethereal textures and explosive distortions. “Soleil d’Hiver” thus takes shape at the intersection of concert, cinema, and visual art installation, linking his personal story with the landscapes and people he has encountered along the way.
◍ The work of French musician, composer, and photographer Grégory Dargent bridges contemporary music, improvisation, Mediterranean traditions, and the visual arts. He creates works in which sound, image, memory, and political history are interwoven. His work has been presented in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, both on stage and through photographic publications and exhibitions. He has collaborated with artists from the fields of jazz, experimental music, theater, and film. He lives in Strasbourg.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiWaJegiS3s
◍ Bethnal Greener is the project of Kostis Kilymis, a sound artist, producer, and translator. He recently released the album Pedio on Same Difference Music and the EP Every border implies a violence. In his music, he weaves narratives that blend electronic sounds, vocals, field recordings, and uncertain rhythms.