La part sombre
The Dark Part
Group of works comprised of three videos, three photographs, a text work and a publication
All works produced in the frame of a residency at Bibracte · Centre archéologique européen in 2017
The different works which constitute La part sombre follow some events at the margin of the canonical petrol narrative that have contributed to the current ecological shift, and take as a paradigm the change in shape and state of the oil shale, a hydrocarbon-rich black sedimentary rock. Considering it as a score and a recording surface where natural processes and human activities are inscribed – from the fossilization of the Permian fauna and flora (250 Ma) to the industrial exploitation of fossil fuels, passing through the Gallic and Roman architecture – the works question our ambiguous relationship to energy and the mineral world and give voice to the deaf mutation of ancient organisms, to mythological divinities and to the still unknown language of high-tech machines that begin to occupy the subsoil.
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La part sombre [The Dark Part]
3-channel HD video, duration: 4’, 11’ and 12’30’’, 2018, French, English subtitles
Text, direction, camera and editing: Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler
Sound recording, mixing and mastering: Nicolas Pommé
Actors: Sylvain Blanchot, Marie Julie Lemercier and Olivier Nugues
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When you light this rock it burns like wood*
Inkjet print, 140 x 140 cm, 2018
bottom — Rock 1555, Pecopteris fossil (tree fern) on oil shale, Permian period (298.9 - 251.9 million years), Autun Natural History Museum Collection.
top left — Corner of panel with moulded frame, fragment of oil shale bas-relief from a Roman public monument in Augustodunum, 2nd - 3rd century, Rolin Museum Collection.
top right — Cooked shale, oil shale after extraction of shale oil by pyrogenic method, Igornay deposit (1839-1899), Autun Natural History Museum Collection.
* Quote from the Arab geographer and naturalist Al-Dimashqi (1256 - 1327).
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Une lampe éclaire une lampe qui éclaire [A lamp illuminates a lamp that illuminates]
Digital print, MDF, 200 x 80 cm each, 2018
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Marcher dans l'obscurité à plusieurs [Walking in the dark with others]
Publication, softcover, 16 pages, offset print, color, 148 x 210 mm, 2018, French or English
More infos Read (eng) Read (fr)
Texts: Caterina Almirall, Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler
Graphic design and photographs: Eulàlia Rovira and Adrian Schindler
Photos by Antoine Maillier (Bibracte EPCC).