PROJECT “LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE” – SOLSTICE
1995 Luxembourg’s first European Capital of Culture
Project “La Mémoire du Geste” was presented in Luxembourg. Europe opened her borders. On this occasion and upon personal invitation of the Ministry for Culture in Luxembourg, I was commissioned to join the three countries with performances in the frame of a project in the region where Belgium, France and Luxembourg meet.
Cars in motion
In this region, the earth of “Grain Valley” holds very large iron reserves which have been mined since ancient times. The valley bears the mark of war, battles have left deep marks. The earth is riddled by mines, the iron ore is no more, has been exploited, but people stay in this region, full of slag and worn out. A motorway, just inaugurated, connects the three countries. It is an important means of communication. Along this motorway, ecological niches develop.
Residents of France, Belgium and Louxembourg drive to the new highway, which combines these three countries.
“La Mémoire du Geste” was to celebrate summer solstice, the longest ray of sunlight, on a length of one to three kilometres. Before sunset, cars coming from different villages of the three countries were to form queues along the streets. They were to park on the stretch of motorway which lies exactly on the triangle. The inhabitants were to use footpaths and meet at a place lying four to five metres below the embankment of the motorway. A long row of fireplaces would already have been prepared. After sunset, when it got dark, the fires were to be lit up. The radios of the parked cars were to receive a children’s song broadcasted by Radio Luxembourg. This was to serve as a code for action.
Red light
LIGHTDANCE-CHOREOGRAPHY FOR 2000 CARS, FIREPLACE
AND INHABITANTS&PARTICIPANTS OF THE THREE COUNTRIES
„FIREPLACE“ AS AN URBAN SING OF THE HOME
RENDEVOUZ AND MEETING POINT FOR WALKERS IN THE VALLEY
60 m long lightbeam of a car crosses the light of a fireplace, which is lighted by the inhabitants of the three countries (participants) at first place.Dustparticles condense
the diffused light and convert it into a 60m. long ray of light in the unenlightened valley.
LIGHT- AND FIREDANCE „GRAIN VALLEY“ THREECOUNTRIESCORNER BETWEEN BELGIUM. FRANCE AND LUXEMBOURG
CEREMONY OF THE FALLING BOARDERS IN EUROPE
As the valley would lose its shape, the light dance was to start. Car head-lights were to be lit, penetrating the smoke of the fire, thus making visible the light beam as direction in the smoke particles. The light of 2000 beams stemming from 2000 car head-lights were to be made perceptible as motion, as score.
ONE PERSON ONE LIGHT BEAM, ONE SUNLIGHT BEAM
In the past century, our earth has got a new face. Pictures of satellites show big inhabited light areas, where life pulsates in the night. Each fireplace is a house and a life. Urban aesthetic and natural aesthetic interact.
The result thereof is a new, second scenery of light and motion. Film cameras were to record the whole event, one film would be broadcasted on TV as a documentation, another film as a picture choreography. The history of the light, rhythms of stimulation, social and communication structures are shown as a whole.
The project “La Mémoire du Geste” was part of the daily life cycle and in this sense a piece of art created during a lifetime. In spite of the willingness of the inhabitants to participate, the project was stopped for bureaucratic reasons just before its implementation.
STORYBOARD FOR TV-DOCUMENTAL RECORDS „LA MEMOIRE DU GESTE“
„FIREPLACE“ STORYBOARD FOR DOCUMENTAL RECORDS
