Maarten Stragier and I met in 2016 at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel (Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium), bonding over our shared passion for classical and electric guitar. Our first collaboration began with a residency in November 2023, where we worked directly with renowned composer Helmut Lachenmann on his classical guitar duo piece “Salut für Caudwell.” The success of our concert following this residency inspired us to establish the Duo Bibault-Stragier, specializing in contemporary classical music for guitar.
Our duo offers extended musical explorations, blending classical and electric guitar to create innovative sounds and textures. Exciting projects lie ahead, including collaborations with international musicians and artists, notably in Boston—a city with deep connections for Maarten and where I currently reside.
Planetary System(ic) Extraction
Jessie Cox, Pierre Bibault, Maarten Stragier
Sounding the Space Debris Crisis: A Guitar Performance Inspired by AstriaGraph
We set out to create a piece that is both a musical exploration and a statement on the growing crisis of space debris. Through Planetary System(ic) Extraction, we use our electric guitars not just as instruments, but as tools to sonify the overwhelming accumulation of human-made objects in Earth’s orbit.
Drawing inspiration from AstriaGraph—a real-time visualization of space junk—we translate its imagery into sound. Each of us follows a unique “score” shaped by constellations and orbits, turning the chaotic buildup of debris into an evolving sonic landscape. As we progress, our guitars become increasingly cluttered with objects—rubber bands, cotton, stones, plastic bags, and a bass bow—mirroring the relentless accumulation of waste in space. The sounds grow denser, more obstructed, until the moment of Silence, where the act of removing preparations symbolizes the urgent need to reverse this crisis before it spirals beyond our control.
This is more than music—it’s a sonic representation of the waste we leave behind, even beyond our own planet.
The piece was premiered on December 7, 2024, at De Bijloke, Ghent, Belgium, as part of the Ear to the Ground Festival.
Jessie Cox [composition, score performance]
Pierre Bibault & Maarten Stragier [guitar performance, co-composition]