Jessica Arseneau
Solar, 2022
Video HD, audio stereo
15:43 min.
Video still frames
Solar explores the fictional idea of the sun remaining motionless at dusk. Reminiscent of J. G. Ballard’s sci-fi short story The Day of Forever (1966), the film evokes how permanent luminosity makes time homogeneous and transforms the human experiences. Solar transports us into a room filled with agitated fog, pillows and blue light intended to simulate dreams. Part of a poem by Emily Dickinson, The Sun kept setting — setting — still (published in 1890), is recited, expressing the sensation of drowsiness under an unchanging light. The film unfolds in the manner of a daydream where natural and architectural elements are activated as if they were the protagonists of a world where time is inevitably present.
In the film, sleep is one of the physical states of the human being that has disappeared. The voiceover describes night dreaming and daydreaming as something that once served to experience nonexistent places, people from another era, gods, among others. The film also takes place in a stonefield where lichens light up in a bright blue color, as if they were organisms resistant to the continuous light.
Featuring: Kiki DeGonzag, Aurélien Finance
Project assistant: Laura Haby
Camera: Jessica Arseneau, Laura Haby
Audio recording: Luna Baby
Audio sources: BBC Library, waveplaySFX de Freesound.org
Quote: Emily Dickinson, The Sun kept setting — setting — still (publié en 1890)
Special thanks: Marie Paule Bilger, Jean-Jacques Delattre, Emmanuel Henninger, Jeremy Ledda, Florent Rusch, KM0, La Ferme Aventure, Motoco, Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Goethe-Institut Strasbourg
Views of Solar (left screen) and Maybe It's Tomorrow (right screen), Motoco, Mulhouse
This project was created during the residency ALLEZ & ZURÜCK of the Goethe-Institut Strasbourg, in collaboration with Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Motoco, Goethe-Institut Nancy, the Bureau des arts plastiques and supported by OFAJ DFJW, DRAC Grand Est and Centre Français de Berlin.
This project is supported by the New Brunswick Arts Board
