L'Impératrice at Palais Bulles: A Retro-Futuristic Funk Harmony
Modern disco electronic melodies meet architectural curves as a part of arte’s Passengers series.
In a fusion of retro-chic soundscapes and avant-garde architecture, L'Impératrice performed at the iconic Palais Bulles for a special session celebrating their third album, "Pulsar." Part of the "Passengers" series, blended the band's swaying melodies with the venue's distinctive design. This was released in June 2024, just before the lead singer Flore Benguigui left the band due to conflicts.
Check out the concert on Arte.tv: click this link or images above & below.
They won’t let me embed it. Oops.
Perched above the Mediterranean in Théoule-sur-Mer near Cannes, the Palais Bulles, or "Bubble Palace" was conceived by Hungarian architect Antti Lovag and constructed between 1975 and 1989 in some kind of sci-fi organic themed vision of the future where we have rejected square geometric homes.
Lovag had a disdain for straight lines, favoring organic, bubbly forms that mimic natural structures. Well, some of them. The estate is built of interconnected bubble-like rooms, circular windows, and terraces, creating a fluid and immersive environment. Originally commissioned by industrialist Pierre Bernard (god knows how he made living - Wikipedia says he is most known for having someone build this building…), the property was later bought by Pierre Cardin in 1992, who used it as a venue for fashion shows and cultural events.
L'Impératrice’s blend of disco, funk, and electronic grooves perfectly matches the retro-futuristic energy of Palais Bulles. Dressed by Maison Pierre Cardin, the band played through sunset, their sound flowing seamlessly into the palace’s surreal, dreamlike curves. A hypnotic fusion of funk, futurism, and one of France’s most bizarre architectural curiosities.
The Palais Bulles is that kind of beautiful retro-futuristic design I loved from the 1960s and 70s, like the Epcot Center's geodesic dome or the Space Age motifs popularized during that era. There are many examples of homes that are all kind of site-specific, uniquely designed for the very landscape they’re situated in while looking to some ideals of future design.
Lovag's organic pink subdivision really commits to organic forms, kind of blobbing out of the landscape as if it were designed by super intelligent termites from the future, but the future that we imagined in the 1970s.
Fund My Bubble Palace (Or Just Coffee)
Look, I won’t ask you to finance my dream of living in a futuristic dome on the French Riviera… but I will ask if you’d like to buy me a coffee.
No pressure.
Just a little support to keep this thing going—because writing about surreal concerts in space-age lairs doesn’t pay in vintage Pierre Cardin furniture. Yet.