Installation by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot inside the dome of the Bourse de Commerce.

Unprecedented scale. Unrepeatable sound. Paris witnessed it for the last time.
On September 21st I caught the final hour of Clinamen, an installation by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot inside the dome of the Bourse de Commerce.

An 18 metre circular pool filled the rotunda. Dozens of porcelain bowls floated and collided, creating a soundscape written only by water and chance. No two moments sounded the same.

The title Clinamen comes from the Roman poet Lucretius, who described the atomic “swerve” that makes freedom and life possible. Here it became art: randomness turned into music.

This was version 10, the largest ever built. With the Paris closing, there are no future dates announced. Earlier versions appeared in Melbourne and Metz, but the acoustics of this dome made Paris a one-time experience.

✨ Would you have liked to hear music composed by porcelain and water currents?

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