Conversation – Mélissa Laveaux & Oliver Beer

As part of the 17th Lyon Biennale, we are pleased to invite you to a discussion between British multidisciplinary artist Oliver Beer and singer-songwriter Mélissa Laveaux, a leading figure on the international music scene. Together, they will reflect on their collaboration on the work Resonance Project: The Cave (2024), an immersive eight-screen video-opera filmed in a Paleolithic decorated cave, whose presentation at the Grandes Locos marks a world premiere. This meeting will offer a unique insight into the exploration of acoustic resonances and the relationships between music and space, which lie at the heart of Beer’s work. Mélissa Laveaux, who performed the Haitian song “Legba Na Console” in the Font-de-Gaume cave in Dordogne for this piece, will share her experience in this singular environment, where sound heritage and ancestral memory intertwine.
Oliver Beer will explain the creative process behind this monumental installation, which combines voice, painting, and acoustics. You will discover how the earliest artworks of humanity inspired him to engage in a deep reflection on the history of music and the natural resonance of spaces.

Oliver Beer
Oliver Beer studied musical composition at the Academy of Contemporary Music before turning to Fine Arts at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, and film theory at the Sorbonne in Paris. He creates sculptures, installations, videos, and immersive live performances that reveal the hidden properties and musicality of objects, bodies, and architectural sites. Drawing on his musical training, his social and family relationships often become the foundation of multidisciplinary works that address both intimate and universal concerns, such as the transmission of musical memories and the personal and cultural meanings we assign to the objects we possess. Beer’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at the Met Breuer, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and MoMA PS1 in New York; the Centre Pompidou, the Opéra Garnier, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Palais de Tokyo, the Musée d'Art Moderne, and the Château de Versailles in Paris; the West Bund Museum in Shanghai; and at the Sydney, Istanbul, Lyon, and Venice Biennales.

Mélissa Laveaux
Mélissa Laveaux is a Franco-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist of Haitian descent. Her unique musical universe fuses traditional Haitian sounds with blues, folk, and indie influences, creating a deeply original artistic signature. A polyglot, she writes and performs her songs in English, French, and Haitian Creole, thus exploring a linguistic richness that reflects her origins and journey. She has released four albums and a musical, and is currently working on her fifth album, continuing her creative exploration through new musical works.