Can an album preserve more than sound? With Henri Dès, Cybel’Art explored a spatial answer: recording a performance volumetrically so that it can be experienced, at scale, within the viewer’s surroundings. The work belongs to the approach behind the icologram®, a volumetric content format for augmented reality.
A captured performance, not a synthetic character
Henri Dès was captured in Grenoble on 2 and 3 November 2021. In a specialist studio, he performed fifteen songs from his repertoire in front of an array of cameras and sensors. The intention was to retain the gestures, guitar playing and stage presence of a specific performance, rather than construct an avatar.
That distinction matters. The project is based on recording a live performance and rendering it volumetrically; it cannot by itself guarantee the authenticity of all digital content or support a general claim about AI technologies. Henri Dès spoke of the interest of seeing himself “from every angle,” as a living trace of a performed moment.
From stage to everyday space
The icologram® App was conceived as the augmented-reality viewing format for this capture. It was designed to let viewers place the performance in a living room, garden or classroom, then change their viewpoint around the artist. The professional AR deployment credits the Real Illusions AR engine.
Here, the technology serves a straightforward use: move closer to watch a guitar gesture, walk around the scene and encounter a recorded presence in one’s own space. It reflects Cybel’Art’s work in augmented and virtual realities, where complex technologies are made approachable without turning the experience into a technical demonstration.
An expanded album, with availability kept separate
The project expands the idea of an album beyond an audio file: a musical work can also be a spatial performance experienced in a phygital setting. The first documented release was “Le Beau Tambour” on 14 December 2023. That date does not mean that all fifteen captured songs, or further project extensions, are available.
The vision described today by .icolo SA is broader: imagining different ways for artists and audiences to meet through volumetric content. It is an announced direction, separate from what has already been documented for this capture.
Adapted from Pierluigi Christophe Orunesu’s original Substack post.
Editorial adaptation of the article by Pierluigi Christophe Orunesu, originally published on Substack on 3 July 2026. Read the original article on Substack