PHONONS is a non-profit organization supporting sound and visual
artists. It is based in South of France and has strong connections in Europe, Japan and China. It was founded in 2011 at the initiative of Philippe Lopez and Vincent Telandro; the organization statutes are available here.
PHONONS supports sound artists by providing expression spaces: we organize parties, showcases, concerts and festivals; we promote the artists' work through our website, our podcast and our audio-visual installations. We mainly focus on electronic music.
PHONONS supports visual artists by providing exhibition spaces: we integrate visual arts into our music events; we curate art exhibitions in international eye centers; we
also promote the artists' work through our website. We are open to all forms of artistic creativity.
The concept of phonons was introduced in 1932 by Russian physicist Igor Tamm. A phonon is a quantum mechanical description of a special type of vibrational motion in which a lattice (an arrangement of atoms) uniformly oscillates at the same frequency.
Solids exhibit two types of phonons: acoustic phonons and optical phonons; acoustic phonons correspond to sound waves whereas optical phonons interact with light. The name phonon comes from the Greek word φωνή (phōnē) which translates as sound or voice because long-wavelength phonons give rise to sound. Hence, sound and visual artists generate acoustic and optical phonons that propagate through the networks (phonons.net).