On Saturday August 4 I was fortunate enough to attend the performance of Objectif Terre by composer/sound artist Pierre Henry, Henry who is now in his 8oth year was a musique concréte pioneer working with Pierre Schaeffer from 1949-58 and has maintained an active practice since. The performance took place in front of the La Defense Arch at sunset and lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. Using enormous stacks of speakers that delivered a sound equal to the monumental scale of the site Henry presented an often terse but constantly evolving sound work that juxtaposed recognisable “found” sounds with those of an indeterminable source. The strategic placing of speakers around the esplanade provided the sound with a high degree of spatialisation and physicality. This sense of physicality allowed the sound to enter in a unique dialogue with the site, casting it in a otherworldly shade. What is an is in effect an everyday business district was a transformed into something alien and foreboding. If as Henry has stated the work Objectif Terre is concerned with a sense of “ecology” its presentation within the conext of the La Defense site provided a compelling argument for the ability of art (however abstract in its form) to enter into a dialogue with the apparatus of power.