Sound recording and mail box, 2016-2023
Blending into the urban murmur, a familiar whistle emerges, impossible to precisely locate. The melody, instantly recognizable, seems to float in space, detached from any visible body. One looks for its author, follows the trace of the sound, scans the gaps in the surroundings. Then the whistle fades. Silence returns. One wonders whether it was a dream, or whether something — or someone — simply disappeared.
The author of this piece is credited as NDA, an acronym for Non Disclosed Artists. Founded by Carolle Sanchez, NDA is both a foundation, an artistic project, and a legal framework designed to host anonymous or collective works that challenge conventional notions of authorship, ownership, and recognition. Each creation under this name reconsiders the figure of the author, opening up new forms of circulation, memory, and shared meaning.
Here, the chosen anonymity lends the whistle — and the universally known tune it carries — a broader, almost mythical resonance. Detached from individual attribution, the song becomes a floating memory, a suspended question.
Presented as part of the exhibition Lieu Sentimental, curated by in.plano, in front of Galerie Longue Vue, Île Saint-Denis, France.
Carolle Sanchez 