Mathieu Bonnafous is a sound artist, musician, and field recordist whose listening practice is attuned to the surrounding world — natural and industrial, human and non-human — from which he draws inspiration. Sound recording is at the core of his creative work. It has led him to develop a deep sensitivity to soundscapes and sonic ecology, both of which play an important role in his artistic approach.The audio recordings he collects may be used in a naturalistic way or transformed through various technical processes. He orchestrates textures, instruments, tonalities, and incidental sounds to create unconventional works — somewhere between repetitive noise music, concrete-naturalist composition, and microtonality — where fiction and reality intertwine. In April 2020, he co-founded the label and publishing platform forms of minutiæ with fellow sound artist Pablo Diserens. Together, they promote a musicality that blends biophony, electroacoustic music, and deep listening. Since 2028, he has collaborated with choreographer Rebecca Journo. Together, they have developed a unique language centered around the relationship between image and sound, first explored in La ménagère (2019) and later in Portrait (2022). This collaboration led him to live performance, which he continues to explore further in their latest pieces Les amours de la pieuvre (2024) and Bruitage (2025) where the music takes on the form of a concert. In parallel, he co-composed the live music for Datadream (2021) by Steven Michel and created the soundtrack for Sous-sol (2023) by Arnaud Deprez. Outside the performing arts, his work also extends to the audiovisual field, including fiction films, documentaries, and experimental short films. He also creates within club culture under the alias Catartsis, blending Bass music and early 2000s techno influences — all shaped through his primary medium: field recording. This gives his music a concrete, tactile quality, full of unusual textures and sonic identities.
