Hugo Constantin Lioret is a French composer, musician and sound artist based in The Hague, NL. Interested in the confluence of nature and technology, he explores textures, patterns and behaviours that create a sense of organicity.

I grew up in Nantes, a city near the sea, then in Paris. Now I live and work in The Hague, a city even closer to the sea. The question of organicity drives my work. For  example, I can look at the sea, its evolution, its different textures, its proportionate disorganisation  or its material or immaterial presence. In the same way, I develop sounds, images,  constructions that make us feel the characteristics of these organic bodies. In this perspective, I  wish to participate in the deconstruction of the binarity between technology and nature.

I am  interested in what the hybridization of these bodies produce, underline, disturb, reveal, imitate. This  is where I place my work: the organic.  

Greatest inspirations or influences?

The first artist that comes to mind is James Turrell.

I really like the poetry that emerges  from his work. The simple fact of framing the sky for example is so simple and yet so effective.  Sometimes it's about context. This is what really interests me about field recording. Recording a sound is also a question of framing. To make it audible in another context is to potentially reveal  the sensory and imaginary qualities of an object. Time also has a very particular flavour in the  space of his works. I feel a form of spirituality.  

I also think of Mark Rothko.

With such simple forms and an almost systematic use of colour, he  manages to release an emotional power that I have never really understood but that I have deeply  felt. In Paris, I think it was the only time in my life that I cried in front of a painting. A balance and a  gentle inner deflagration emerges. It is this kind of state of mind and energy that I wish to develop  and share with as many people as possible. 

The third artist is a painter, Claude Monet.

The experience of the water lilies at  the Musée de l'Orangerie had a profound effect on me. What I find admirable in this work is that it  is precisely on the border between abstraction and figuration. The size of the paintings, the quality  of the colours and textures give me the same sensations as James Turell or Mark Rothko. It just  makes sense. 

Tell us Hugo about your creative process.

At the moment I'm trying to reform my working method. I used to do a lot of field recording, creating  material from recordings by sound processing.I first create sound material which is then organised  in a second step. Most of the time it's the sound itself that leads to its own connections, I'm a form of spectator. I listen to what the sound tells me. The hardest thing for me is to start a piece. Once  there are enough elements that indicate an atmosphere, a tension, a question, I just have to follow it through to a point of exhaustion.

Today I am particularly experimenting with music programming with Max or SuperCollider. I want to  be more radical in my music and in my approach between nature and technology. I am also interested in visual creation with Touch Designer, and yet I'm not necessarily  looking for technicality. Simple tools can be incredibly meaningful. I try to keep an intuitive  approach. Above all I want to create an experience that is intense, that shakes the metaphysical  part of each of us. This is maybe the main clue to my creative process. 

How has the pandemic affected your creativity?

During this period, I had the rage to create. This period only shouted even louder the imperious  necessity of creation in my life. I decided to push further. To let go.  

I clearly don't see the world changing since this crisis. For me this epidemic was also a potential  chance to see the economic system evolve towards something more virtuous. I am rather  pessimistic about the impact of this crisis. If a global epidemic cannot change the political system, 

its construction, the concerns of its leaders, but also the cultural and social solidarity and openness  between people.. What can change it?  

My point of view is essentially based on my experience of France at that time. All the decisions that  were taken only underlined the very worrying lack of consideration for knowledge, culture,  discovery, exchanges and well-being. 

Icon of our time?

I think of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Beyond the quality of his latest musical productions, he embodies a  relationship to life and art that I find purely right.  

What does wellbeing mean to you?

For me, well-being means being able to use all your energies. Yoga, running, friends, love, sex,  traveling, reading, eating are all opportunities to develop my well-being beyond creation.  

Hugo Lioret instagram

Photo credits courtesy of artist

• Portrait by Louise Chateau

• Flamingo, Swakopmund, Namibia by Hugo Lioret