About
Pigeons Studio — Koo Des (NSDOS) × Julien Thomas, creative direction, robotics and spatial sound
Our mission
Pigeons Studio brings together an artistic direction and a technical direction on equal footing. We design devices where gesture becomes music, movement and collective experience, for the stage, for installation and for brands. From research to deployment, we carry the project from conception to realization.
Koo Des (NSDOS)
A French multidisciplinary artist born in 1984 in Paris, also known as Kirikoo Des. After studying at the International Dance Academy in Paris, he set out to create the sounds on which to place his movements and to imagine an alternative sound order. Nicknamed the “techno hacker” by the French press, he distorts technological tools to link machines and matter: he collects living data using sensors on his dancing body, interactive devices and creative coding programs, then injects it into the rectilinear skeleton of techno to make an organic matrix. His work has taken him to the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Alaska and Indonesia, through performances, workshops and masterclasses.
Julien Thomas
Technical direction and system architecture. Electronic and PCB design, embedded programming, robotic integration and spatial interactive devices. He develops the AS-SIMT hardware platform: wearable sensors combining a screen, a 9-axis motion unit and bone-conduction transducers, along with the real-time pipelines that connect sensors, sound and robots.
EightOS
EightOS (∞OS) is an open source operating system for the bodymind, co-created by Koo Des and Dmitry Paranyushkin, under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence since 2015. The practice investigates natural dynamics and technologies of the self around principles of adaptability, fractal variability, confluence, integrity, friction, resilience and modularity, favouring direct physical experience. It extends into SelfSense, an app and trackers that entrain fractal variability in movement, breathing and heart rate. EightOS is a project distinct from Pigeons Studio and should not be confused with the AS-SIMT hardware platform.
Collaborations & institutions
The duo’s work has been presented at Mutek (Mexico, Montreal, Tokyo), BIAN Montreal, Gwangju Biennale, Triennale di Milano, Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin as part of the Breathe programme, IMPACT (Théâtre de Liège) and HOT‑SHOP 14 (ECCO Leather). In 2023, Koo Des was a Villa Albertine resident in New Orleans for the S.E.L.M. project (Send Everyday Life Movement), with the Matrice institute and the ETHICS lab of the Catholic University of Lille.
Approach
Our methodology combines research, development and artistic creation. We favor open source solutions, complete documentation and personalized support for each project.