ISSN 2340-1 575
MARIE LORRAINE GERARD Levantscape
LÃnea de Costa Contemporary Art & Culture Visual Magazine issue #19# PINEA A.I.R. special issue
Línea de Costa Contemporary Art & Culture Visual Magazine issue #19# PINEA A.I.R. special issue EDITOR / PUBLISHER Asociación Cultural LINEA DE COSTA DIRECTOR / EDITOR Pablo Alonso de la Sierra Rocío Arévalo Vargas DISEÑO / DESIGN LosVendaval FOTOGRAFÍA / PHOTOGRAPHY Marie L. Gerard / Pinea-Línea de Costa A.I.R. COLABORADORES / CONTRIBUTORS Isabel Figueroa ISSN 2340-1 575 CÁDIZ (SPAIN) www.magazine.lineadecosta.net
P I N E A- LI N E A D E C O S TA A. I . R . E S P AC I O P I N E A ART G ALLE RY Avda. de Sevilla 22, Rota 1 1 520 Spain pineaonair@lineadecosta.net www.pinea.org
Linea de Costa Contemporary Art & Culture Visual Magazine es una publicación independiente. Publicación sujeta a licencia Creative Commons. Linea de Costa Contemporary Art & Culture Visual Magazine is an independent publication. Under Creative Commons License.
Le va n tsc a p e
Levantscape A site-specific project for PINEA-LINEA DE COSTA Over the duration of one month (August), I have had the chance to be welcomed at Pinea Linea De Costa AiR program. My project aimed to study a very particular wind that blows mainly on Southern and West-Southern Spain. This wind normally blows really hard over the month of August, unfortunately it was not present as much as I had hoped so during my residency. Therefore, I started analysing various elements on which the wind had an effect; such as sand, plants, trees, waves and clouds. My attention got carried onto clouds as compared to other elements they are influenced only by the wind; they offer no resistance to its strength. I started to draw the clouds, everyday around 6pm, if I could find some (which was not always easy). If there was no cloud I wrote a text analysing the nature and humans' behaviours in reaction to the weather and the wind. The drawings of clouds were then redrawn on tracing paper to be part of a large map of the sky. Each drawing was dated and the Min. and the Max. wind speed used as legend. It was interesting to analyse the shape of the clouds in relationship to the wind strengths; note that on the windiest days there was no clouds. ​
The abstract shape of the clouds really interested me and pushed me to want to develop them further. Developing them in 3-D seemed like a good path to go down to. Originally inspired by the nature of the clouds combined with the wind; I wanted to create structures light enough to act as kites thanks to the help of vales. The idea of the vales came through the discovery of big vales attached above the streets to create shade for the people. Cities such as Sevilla and Rota use this technique. The structures would have been presented outdoors, probably on the beach attached to a weight. As the structures grew organically I realised that they were way to heavy to float in the wind and act as kites. Also, those structures were missing a link with how the Levanter affected the life of people experiencing it. I felt like something was missing and I couldn't quite grasp what. Since the intention to make the structures fly appeared as being hard to realise, I thought of a possible solution to give the impression that they were moving in the wind. I had the idea to create a video of one of the structures and project it upon the installation. Thanks the movement of the camera and the structure in front of its lens, the video projected on the installation really gives the impression that the "clouds" are moving. The video was filmed near Barbate (also in Cadiz province), where the wind was slightly stronger than in Rota. The video was made in collaboration with Rodrigo Uceda who filmed and edited the video. We took a smaller version of the structure in different conditions; in the forest, in a field, by the beach and also in a lake. Still, I felt like I needed to retranscribe the obsession and aggressivity of the wind and how much people found it irritable. Joined to the video Rodrigo and I developed a soundtrack to be played at the same time as the video. The soundtrack evolves from quiet to stronger wind noises. I wanted to combine to the wind sounds of frequency noises. These sounds are mostly very irritable and a too long exposition to them might make people slightly anxious. Frequencies are also carried in the air and are invisible some people might hear a wider range and some a smaller, this is a metaphor of how people get affected by the Levanter differently. Marie Lorraine Gerard
LĂnea de Costa Contemporary Art & Culture Visual Magazine issue #19# PINEA A.I.R. special issue