François and Bernard Baschet, working in France in the second half of the 20th century, are best known for their Cristal Baschet, an extraordinarily refined and successful musical instrument of water, glass and steel. The Cristal is but one member of the extensive and varied instrumentarium the Baschets created while simultaneously developing a cohesive system of applied acoustics. Taken together, the instruments and the acoustical system applied to sound sculpture represent a fertile corpus that allows engagement in sound exploration with no need for particular skill, as a way to engage in aesthetic exploration. In the Baschet view, sound is a powerful tool for a playful, tolerant society, in which diversity can be celebrated. François Baschet devoted himself to teaching and sharing his acoustic and engineering discoveries, offering building workshops to a variety of people, from the children at the NY School for the Deaf to young unemployed or Spanish “offenders.”
Taller Baschet continues this work under the guidance of Martí Ruiz. Since his close collaboration with François, Martí has been evolving the theory, discovering new configurations and new sound devices, and demonstrating that the Baschet principles can be applied to contemporary sounding ideas and capabilities. He calls this approach Après-Baschet — derived works honoring this lineage. www.tallerbaschet.cat
Martí Ruiz, born in 1982, is a sound and visual artist, musician, professor and researcher at the Barcelona University’s Fine Arts Faculty. He has a BFA in music language and modern guitar from Taller de Músics, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Art and Environment. After focusing on soundscape for some years, Martí transitioned to applied acoustics with a social approach. He wrote his PhD dissertation on applied acoustic systems in Baschet Sound Sculpture.
He is co-founder and coordinator of the Baschet Sound Sculpture Workshop at UB with François Baschet, and since 2010 has been devoted to the preservation and restoration of Baschet pieces. He has worked to encourage public interaction in museums, festivals and educational institutions in Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Munich, Czech Republic, Mexico DF, Los Angeles, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and now San Francisco.
Among the many new Après-Baschet instruments and sound sculptures Martí has developed from the Baschet theory are his directional tuning forks called Kouri-No-sen, and the Clavinimbus, a full acoustic tuning-fork keyboard amplified with balloons featuring a volume-tremolo pedal. In 1995 he co-founded Hamsterloco, an independent experimental electronic netlabel, and the band Híbrida, Nen i Cavall –www.nenicavall.cat, releasing music under the name of Katatsumuri since 2001. Martí is also a member of Gamelan Penempaan Guntur (Forge of Thunders), and the Gong Kebyar ensemble at the Museum of Music of Barcelona.