In this post, I will be looking at two artworks dealing with time, as research for 4D project 4.
The first piece of art is “La Mécanique de l’histoire, une tentative d’approche d’un point de suspension”, which roughly translates to “The Mechanics of history, an attempt to approach a suspension point”, concept and direction by Yoann Bourgeois.
Form: Performance art installation, featuring grey-clad acrobats interacting with a rotating set consisting of a stairway circling a trampoline.
Context: The production ran from 3 to 14 October 2017 at the Panthéon in Paris, and was open to public viewing. The set was built where the Panthéon’s Foucault pendulum, a device made to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth, would normally be. Behind the installation is François-Léon Sicard’s “La Convention nationale”, built in 1913 as a monument to the National Convention, the first republican French government. The acrobats in Bourgeois’ installation appear dressed to resemble the members of the National Convention as they appear in Sicard’s sculpture.
Subject: There isn’t much online about the artwork that was written by people actually involved in its production, at least not in English. However, one can surmise from the installation and contextual clues that the subject is Man, the species. One might narrow it down to the (relatively) modern, democratic Man, based on the clothing the acrobats are wearing.
Content: The content is both emotional and intellectual. On an emotional level, the grace, rhythm and precision with which the acrobats perform their elaborate dance make for an awesome spectacle. On an intellectual level, their dance appears to be a figurative expression of, as the name of the artwork suggests, the mechanics of human history- the cyclical nature of humanity striving upwards, falling short, and trying again. There is much to unpack from their motions, and no definite answers.
The second piece of art is “La Dolce Vita”, a film directed by Federico Fellini.
Form: Nearly three-hours-long black-and-white live-action film.
Context: Made over the preceding two years and released in 1960, directed and co-written by Federico Fellini, an Italian male filmmaker.
Subject: Fictional character Marcello Rubini, an Italian wannabe-writer turned celebrity journalist.
Content: Both emotional and intellectual. Much has been written about this movie, better than I ever could. It deals with the decadence of post-war Rome, the shallowness of celebrity culture, the intrinsic human desire for meaning and significance, and makes these heady ideas personal and relatable through the characters of Marcello and the people around him, so that one feels for them in their struggle to find a good life.
Both artworks deal with time, albeit very differently, in order to get their content across.
Bourgeois’ performance piece deals with experienced time- it presents a perspective on the entirety of human history, as a cyclical struggle of progress and return. It is, in a way, a value judgement of time as spent by humanity.
Felliini’s film, however, deals with edited time. It isn’t about time the way Bourgeois’ piece is, but rather manipulates time in order to deliver its message. The film presents important moments from the single life of a fictional character, seven distinct “episodes” from Marcello’s life. Within the fiction of the world, the seven moments don’t follow immediately from one to another. However, by editing time and placing them in succession, an emotional journey is presented, one that spans a longer period of time than the run-time of the film itself. By the end of the film, one feels as though they have lived a substantial part of Marcello’s life with him, even though it has only been three hours.
Verily, there is no shortage of ways to think about and handle time in art.
References:
http://www.paris-pantheon.fr/Actualites/Monuments-en-Mouvement-Yoann-Bourgeois-au-Pantheon
http://www.theatredelaville-paris.com/spectacle-lamecaniquedelhistoireyoannbourgeois-1221
Dancers Demonstrate the Perpetual ‘Mechanics of History’ in a Performance by Yoann Bourgeois
Paris 2014: Inside the Pantheon
https://clearedready.blogspot.sg/2011/06/statue-week-pantheon.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Convention
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3335-la-dolce-vita-tuxedos-at-dawn
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/feb/17/features.worldcinema
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-la-dolce-vita-1960
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Dolce_Vita