Orchid Mantis
Orchid Mantis is a collaboration between Michelle Helene Mackenzie and Stefan Maier. It is the first work of a project that investigates insect intelligence & imaginaries, tiny noise and psychoacoustics. In conversation Benjamin Bratton’s short story,The Orchid Mantis of Sanzhi, the piece envisions the sound world of a speculative, posthuman environment.
The composition was arranged collaboratively in the artists’ studios between January-March 2020, and combines both artists on modular synth, digital instruments, & field recording, with Mackenzie additionally on amplified objects and feedback.
Mackenzie and Maier debuted the first version of the piece at Deep Blue Studios on March 11, 2020, and performed the final work at Centquatre-Paris on January 6, 2023 as part of INA-GRM’s Live Electronics Series, curated by François Bonnet. It was diffused on François Bayle’s 1974 sound diffusion system, The Acousmonium, at Centquatre-Paris. Orchid Mantis will be released as a split LP on digital and vinyl in Autumn 2024 via INA Portraits/Shelter Press.
