Résidence Busquet

I’ve known Geno and Pepone since around 2012 or 2013. I first met Geno when she invited Tildon Krautz to play for Pepone’s 40th birthday. We performed on a big hay trailer, surrounded by caravans, converted school buses, and all kinds of makeshift dwellings.

Geno is well known in France for her work as a hand-painted sign maker—an art form that likely predates the printing press. She and Pepone built Busquet from the ground up. When they arrived, it was just a run-down farmhouse with a few ruined barns, typical of old Gers farmsteads left behind when families chose to sell rather than renovate.

I’ve performed at Busquet many times. Their gatherings feel more like small festivals, complete with purpose-built structures, renovated caravans, and other unique residences. The spirit of the place is rooted in creative reuse, found-object transformation, and community collaboration. Geno often hosts artists in residence, and together she and Pepone have created what feels like a little village high street on their property—a café/kitchen, gallery spaces, and a general store featuring local artisanal products.

For Café Sofia Presents: the iUteurki’Verse, we set up camp in Geno’s painting studio, transforming it into a multi-track recording space. Over four days, we rehearsed three full sets for the show. My friend James Foster, a photographer from Chicago, joined us to document the process. His photographs form the galleries you’ll see here.

On the last day of the residence Peopne built us a stage and the local community came out to man the bar and kitchen. We had an open invitation and performed a run through of the whole show for a crowd of about 150 people.