Rhône Drone/Bourdon du Rhône, 2023

Installation
Rhône pebbles, ink, hemp jute.
670 x 180 cm

On Rhône pebbles of all sizes, Adrien Missika has inscribed Zs, also of all sizes. The polished stones are laid out randomly on a carpet where the lines of a 7-meter-long span run. Is it a musical tune? It certainly is. Contrary to museum rules, visitors of all ages are free to take the pebbles in their hands and arrange them differently, according to a known tune, or one composed on the spur of the moment, skilfully or randomly.

Why a Z? In reference to the bumblebee, that precious pollinator that accompanies its flight with a continuous thud. The drone is also the continuous note or chord that underpins certain types of music, such as hurdy-gurdies and bagpipes and is especially fundamental in Indian music, especially ragas. Contemporary composers such as La Monte Young have taken an interest in it.

In 2022, Marble oracle, pebble gamble..., the first version of this work, in a more modest format, was made with pebbles from the Aegean Sea and called for murmuring, and chanting, with M's and H's.