NOSTALGIA FOR NATURE

NOSTALGIA FOR NATURE. 2012.
A film by Hugo Arcier
Coproduction Hugo Arcier and Le Cube
Music of Cocoon, “Paint it Black” (Optical Sound)
Voice over written and said by Agnès Gayraud

Poster of the film.

Guided and accompanied by off-screen narration, these flashbacks intermingle, diffracted by his memory.

The film, however, rejects Manichaeism, revealing nature as far from idyllic…rather, as somber, at times ominous, but always fascinating and beautiful.

The paradox of representing nature through computer-generated imagery lies at the heart of the film. It is also where its nostalgia resides. The film is a declaration of love to the incredible forms engendered by nature that we no longer see or, rather, no longer know how to see.
The film was presented first at my solo show at Le Cube.

“There is a phrase from Heraclitus
which says, ‘Nature loves to hide itself.’
I imagine it as occult,
at the borders of towns,
lying low under traffic tuning forks one no longer hears vibrating,
pursued by the geometric fires of the metropolis…

…where I, too, hide
in a measured space
to which I have the key.
In the luminescent blue of an algorithmic forest,
I suspect what I ignore.
As in introspection, I grasp the extreme.

Between two surfaces, I model depth.
I would like it to snatch me up.
It takes me back to the threshold,
once again.
I have to remember the aim.
Where does this forest lead?

Myxomycetes, Hemitrichya calyculata, Stemonitis, Physarum Polycephalum.
I believe that, left to herself,
in the hollow of its glistening intimacy,
mutant nature is red-orange.
I’ve looked out for its genius in cellular palpitations,
in the pure and obscene growth,
where I’ve seen her defy Time,
invent signs of power,
enter the realm of my nightmares.
As a child I had three scarabs.
A flying stag beetle: Lucanus cervus;
a rhinoceros scarab: Oryctes nasicornis;
and the third, whose name I have forgotten.
Mixed within my memory, they perform a totem.

In the underwoods of Valergues, at the bottom of the Aveyron,
the fixed image of the past is traversed by a breath of air.
I know, at this instant, a form triumphs over its tendency to wilt.

And the darkness lights up.

The wet wood dreams, mutatis mutandis, an idea of fire.
Mutant nature is red-orange.
Mutant nature is red-orange.
(…)

It’s always night in my memory.
A lunar sun
lights my way.
I don’t know if it heralds a new day
or if it comes from the past.”
Voice over, by Agnès Gayraud
 
 

Diffusions:
September the 29th to October the 2nd 2016, “Arte es digital, digital is arte” Vostell Museum, Cáceres (Spain)
September the 27th to October the 4th 2016, Beirut Biennale for the image (Libanon)
From September the 22th to 27th 2014, Shortvisions, International short film festival, Ningho, China.
From February the 21th to March the 19th 2014, “Imaginary : Aesthetics of the virtual and perception of the reality”, PrimoPiano LivinGallery, Lecce (Italy).
From November the 12th to 17th 2013, Interfilm International Short Film Festival, Berlin.
From October the 16th to 25th 2013, Séoul International New Media Festival (NeMaf).
From September the 6th to 9th 2013, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Autria.
From August 14th to 18th 2013, Anima Mundi, Gallery program, São Paulo, Brazil.
From August the 2nd to 11th 2013, Anima Mundi, Gallery program, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
From June 28 to september the 1st 2013, “Le voyage”, Nantes, France.
From April the 15th to May the 15th 2013: ON/Gallery, Beijing.
Thursday May the 2th, 9pm 2013: Elektra Festival, Montreal.
From March the 7th to the 10th 2013: Lille Art Fair.
From February the 7th to July the 27th 2013: Hugo Arcier solo show “Nostalgie for Reality” at Le Cube.