2023 | Maison Gainsbourg with Soundwalk Collective

Maison Gainsbourg, the Parisian townhouse of the chansonnier Serge Gainsbourg, has been transformed with our spatial sound system usomo into a poetic audio-based experience by Soundwalk Collective and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Maison Gainsbourg in Paris is the townhouse of Serge Gainsbourg (1928–1991), the distinguished French singer-songwriter, actor, composer and director. Using our spatial sound system usomo by FRAMED immersive projects, Soundwalk Collective has now transformed it into a poetic audio-based experience. FRAMED is also responsible for the spatial sound concept, the spatial sound production, the planning and the integration of the system.

Guided by the captivating voice of Charlotte Gainsbourg, smallest groups of two visitors at a time explore the historic family home of the artist, which he created over the years as a kind of secluded universe for himself, his wife Jane Birkin and the two daughters, according to very congruent but organic stylistic principles. Walking through and exploring these spaces is immersing oneself into the mind of a legendary creative genius, a classy rebel of his own kind. The gentle voice of a loving daughter recalls childhood memories, describes her father’s and mother’s habits and why specific objects were important to them, and tells little stories from growing up inside a total work of art. In the background, we hear Serge Gainsbourg play the piano alternating with his sonorous voice fading in and out like a ghost, his whistling or the laughter of wife and children wafting through the scene, the sound of the city outside or the telephone ringing inside, steps accompanying us as we pass from room to room.

usomo enables the full auditory immersion into the scene and thus, our full concentration on and maximum experience of the time and the place, as if having been transported directly into the past. The sound experience is designed in such a way that every room is imbued with a sense of being present in the past, of bringing the past into the present. It is a very personal and authentic experience, a homage to a father and an extraordinary artist as well as a gift to his audience.

Beyond the historic house at 5 bis rue de Verneuil, the cultural institution Maison Gainsbourg additionally consists of a museum, a book and gift shop, as well as le Gainsbarre that is a café during the day and a piano bar at night, all across the street at 14 rue de Verneuil.