A portrait of Buenos Aires through its shadows, in four chapters filmed by Marie-Pierre Bonniol in 2017 for Collection Morel. To be released between November 30th and December 21st 2017, as supplement of the exhibition “Capítulo de las sombras” presented at the National Library of the Argentine Republic until December 23rd 2017.
CHAPTER 1 “RECOLETA”, MARIE-PIERRE BONNIOL / COLLECTION MOREL, 2017
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Chapter 1: Recoleta (2:36)
Music : Pierre Bastien with Eduard Atalba, Novia 391, courtesy La Olla Expréss, 2017
Released November 30th 2017
Chapter 2: Ciudad (2:13)
Released December 7th 2017
Chapter 3: Siluetas (2:28)
Released December 14th 2017
Chapter 4: Quiet motors (1:26)
Music : Pierre Bastien “Quiet motors”, courtesy Discrepant, 2017
Released December 21st 2017
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“When I came to Buenos Aires for the opening of the installation “Capítulo de las sombras” (“Chapter of the Shadows”) Plaza del Lector at the National Library, I took the opportunity to shoot four videos of Buenos Aires through its shadows, be it silhouettes, reflections or the sun’s interplay with darkness. It was like seeing a city by its contrary, the zones that our eye – or system representation – usually skip, seeing the city by its voids, maybe, the reversed sides of its intensities.
I went to Recoleta, the historic graveyard of the city, in order to chase shadows, but then met a spirit. I went to San Telmo in order to find books on shadows, and then met a collector of silhouettes, who was also an adept of occultism. I went throughout the city, through its noises and its living nature. I’ve been to the Museum where Pierre Bastien, my partner in thoughts, performed, and chased some shadows of his machinery, beyond the mechanics.
From those four angles, amongst others, the works I’ve assembled are fragile: filmed with a telephone, on the go, I felt as furtive as the shadows I was trying to chase. I’ve discovered, more than ever, that shadows are apparitions and never work without light, offering me another view, another embracement of the city, while in my hometown Berlin, in this autumn time, light declines and shadows are taking other shapes.
I also took this exploration as a ‘bachelor machine’ session, ‘my cinematograph’ how I used to call it for years, where reality gets gathered in stories by giving it a certain reading and attention: a certain way to practice the world with our body as a means of transport, and our perception as equipment. “Living or recording”, Derrida said: for this series, recording allowed me to live a city, maybe strip it, in a different way.”
— Marie-Pierre Bonniol, Berlin, November 2017
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The installation “Capítulo de las sombras”, that this series of 4 videos complements, is presented at Plaza del Lector / National Library of the Argentine Republic, in Buenos Aires, until Saturday December 23rd 2017, from 9 am to 12 am, and from 2 pm to 9 pm, every day. Free entry
More information on the exhibition :
http://collection-morel.com/sombras
Article and interview by Pablo Gianera in La Nacion :
“Una danza de sombras que se mueve en la imaginación”
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Enquiries : contact@collection-morel.com
Website : http://collection-morel.com
Facebook : http://facebook.com/collectionmorel
With thanks to Pierre Bastien, Willy Campion, Keith Duncan and Lisa Wicklund.