D.RIVE

D.RIVE – The Multiple Layers of Reality – The car as a musical instrument

D.RIVE——城市现实的层次

Video: D.RIVE at the UABB Shenshen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture

D.RIVE is an immersive installation that reimagines mobility in an age when electric vehicles have rendered the city uncanny in its newfound quiet. As “the quality of dialogue between the driver and car conceived as a skin for mobility” dissolves with the loss of engine sound and vibration, D.RIVE proposes neither a nostalgic simulation of petrol-era noise nor a talking virtual copilot. Instead, it transforms the vehicle into a fully playable musical instrument—an interface where every gesture, friction, and encounter becomes part of a living score. Steering, accelerating, or braking triggers sonic textures; nearby pedestrians or passing vehicles modulate harmonics; the city itself becomes a resonant field in which mobility composes its own soundtrack.

Powered by the Mobytune system, D.RIVE enables drivers to drift – dériver – inspired by Guy Debord concept of “Dérive”, between layers of reality. A truck passing on the left may emerge as a whale in deep water, an elephant crossing a savanna, a starship gliding through interstellar dark, or a baroque double bass brushing the ear. Sound levels remain context-aware, ensuring no confusion with real-world cues. Presented in an installation-scale simulator, D.RIVE invites drivers of electric vehicles to experience mobility as orchestral symbiosis, where fiction and reality interweave through motion.

by Maurice Benayoun (conception and direction – MoBen)
French team: Jean-Baptiste Barrière (Music and Sound Design) Asbjorn Guiganti (engineering)
Nanjing team: Peiqing Zhang (interaction and Sound design – Nanjing University) Cai Yang, and Sherry Lin (installation supervision and logistics – Nanjing University)

ReSilence S+T+Arts program of the EU collaborative research program. MoBen Paris, and Art And Architecture Intelligence Lab, Nanjing University School of Arts

D.RIVE in MoBen’s studio, Paris during dev. Sept 2025 (driver: Asbjorn Guiganti)

D.RIVE during UABB Shenzhen Dec. 2025 (driver: Cai Yang)

D.RIVE during UABB Shenzhen Dec. 2025 (driver: Peiqing Zhang)