MAFA 7 SyZyGy MediaAr tFestivalArad
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MAFA 7 SyZyGy MediaAr tFestivalArad
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M.A.F.A.7: SyZyGy media installations- screening - video streaming Options: Reset – Cancel – Escape – Emergency SOS (?) MAFA crisis edition / ediție de criză 1. online: mafa.ro 2. offline: 30.09: MAFA7: SyZyGy, Cinema Arta Arad (screening) 02.10: MAFA7: SyZyGy, Muzeul de Artă Arad (video installation) 18.10: best of MAFA, FABER Timișoara (screening) curators: Calin Man and Ileana Selejan organized by: kinema ikon / Centrul Municipal de Cultură Arad partnering institution: Complexul Muzeal Arad
M.A.F.A.7: SyZyGy When planets align in a parallel universe, an alarm activates (automatically) on the starry skies of any device’s screen. Când planetele se aliniază într-un univers paralel, pe cerul înstelat din ecranul oricărui device se activează automat o alarmă. Options: Reset – Cancel – Escape – Emergency SOS (?) MAFA crisis edition / ediție de criză SyZyGy. Doar gravitatea ne mai ține laolaltă. Evenimentele s-au anulat, până și cel mai infim buget a fost dizolvat, 2020 cancelat, așa ca nu prea am avut de ales. „Bine ați venit la ediția de criză” zice bilețelul scris de mână agățat la poartă. MAFA numărul 7, numărul magic, cum ar fi trebuit sa fie de la bun început. Și totuși insuficient de magic, fiindcă nu a reușit să ne transporte altundeva, într-un mediu aseptic, fără germeni și viruși... măcar ne avem unii pe alții. Așadar, cu recunoștință și apreciere, vă dedicăm aceasta ediție de forță majoră vouă, celor apropriați nouă, kinema ikonienilor, barbarilor, extratereștrilor, și ereticilor de tot soiul. Pe cât posibil, vom menține aceasta transmisie activă. Lucrările video, performance și filmele din festival vor rămâne pe sait cât se mai poate, dacă nu și după ce nu se mai poate—totul depinde de legile fizicii. Particule, materii, câmpuri electromagnetice care se răsfrâng, apar, dispar, accelerează sau încetinesc. Depinde de „miez” și de monitor. În fine. Enjoy the ride, sau „bucurați-vă de plimbare” cum bine zice googletranslate. Gravity is really all that’s keeping us here. Events being cancelled, even the smallest of budgets being cancelled, 2020 being cancelled, left us with little to no choice. “Welcome to the crisis edition!” reads the small hand-written sign hanging on the door. “We’ve moved online, offices closed.” MAFA number 7, the magical one, as it was supposed to be. Nonetheless not magical enough to transport us somewhere germ and virus-free... alas... we’ve got each other dear friends. So gratefully, appreciatingly, we dedicate this force majeure edition of the festival to you, our close of kin, kinema ikonians, barbarians, aliens, and heretics of all sorts. We shall maintain this transmission for as long as we can. The video, film and performance pieces uploaded to our channels will be available as long as possible, and possibly even more—laws of physics permitting. Particulate matter, electromagnetic waves drifting in and out of view, slow to high speed depending on the core or monitor. Anyhow, enjoy the ride. On Catastrophes, Coincidences and Other Alignments1 Planets aligning, tides rising, the sixth mass extinction, revolutions, total eclipses, two suns, a plague... who needs Nostradamus, when it’s all coming to pass? No wonder all the conspiracy theorists are on high alert. They’ve heard the canary in the coal mine. It is you, the unbeliever, the heretic, who is paranoid. Delusional. Remember all those seers and prophets enduring tremendous pain and misery, punished for their thoughts, ideas and beliefs? When in reality, they all just wanted to give some form of warning. What will come, what has been, what could have been and will continue to be who knows when and where. Throughout known history, visionaries, seers and dreamers dabbled in serious and apparently trivial matters alike. Driven to the brink of madness, some might say? Perhaps. Take for instance Athanasius Kircher whose boundless curiosity did not escape grand subjects such as astronomy, anatomy, magnetism, acoustics, while obsessing over a rather peculiar combination of things and wonders which included (in no particular order) Chinese dragons, Noah’s ark, and Atlantis... nothing was too little, or much too much. Amongst his many experiments with sound, Kircher did after all invent the Katzenklavier [cat piano].2 Before setting to work on his most famous work Les Propheties (1555) Nostradamus published Traité des fardements et confitures (1552) which included recipes for various remedies and pomades, toothpaste, an aphrodisiac, marzipan, candies and jams. See what I mean? Kircher spent hours on end contemplating the origins, structure, and functioning of the universe in all its grandiose and minute detail, from the heavens, to the entrails of the Earth. Direct observation was his weapon of choice. He studied the Vesuvius on the brink of an eruption up close, hypothesising that the Earth’s crust enveloped an ocean of fire and gas.3 His thirst for knowledge was unstoppable, as he feverishly wrote treatise after treatise. The volume that concerns us the most, Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (1646), presented many thoughts and hypotheses on the nature
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of light, and sight mediated by technology. Informed by scientific methods, the study sought to dispel the mystique around the lanterna magica—which he aptly named a “catastrophic lamp.” Instead of being endowed with supernatural abilities, he argued, this wondrous machine was ever more powerful precisely because it was pure artifice, constructed, man-made. But nothing is ever that straight-forward, and we have seen this time and again, in realms within which interferences abound. Take for instance Christiaan Huygens’ treatise Cosmotheoros, published posthumously in 1698 at the author’s instructions. Coincidentally Huygens is credited as the inventor of the lanterna magica. He was amongst the first scientists to suggest the existence of a plurality of worlds, even more so, of extra-terrestrial life. He described the potential inhabitants of these other worlds as “rational Creatures possess’d of different degrees of Reason and Sense.”4 His discovery of Saturn’s ring(s) and its satellite Titan, seemed to further substantiate claims in that directions. He wondered, for instance, how the rings might affect the planet’s inhabitants. A perfectly legitimate question to ask! Yet how outrageous at the time. It reminds me of Swedish painter Hilma af Klint who instructed that her works be left unseen for 50 years, until, she thought, the world would be prepared to see them. Those marvellous abstract canvases were created under the guidance of Spirit, she said, thoroughly documenting those encounters in her diaries and notebooks. Yet here we are, more than 50 years later, and still unable to piece them together. In the absence of space travel, explorers went searching for new worlds, without believing that they might even exist. And when they stumbled upon them, it wasn’t the locals who trembled in disbelief. Rather, it was they, the Europeans. If only the colonists had listened to the colonised! If only they hadn’t burned their books, or buried their knowledge in religion, superstition, and stereotype. But space travel was possible otherwise. For some it was the ancient ayahuasca root, or other equally enticing plants from the garden of earthly delights. Archaeologists have located evidence pointing to the existence of psychedelic gardens at Machu Picchu, for instance. Hildegard of Bingen, prophetess, mystic and saint (canonized in 2012 by the Catholic church) was also a divinely inspired composer. She called the source of her visions “The Shade of the Living Light” and indeed, claimed that the music she wrote came directly from the heavens, pouring into her mind and heart. Funny to think that meanwhile “the heavens” are listening to Johnny B. Goode and the “Rite of Spring” in endless loop, as Voyager drifts through interstellar space. Did they leave a call back number on the Voyager? A return address? We may be more well-equipped technologically (there’s certainly more gadgets around), but we’re still adrift on our little rock, far from yet close enough to the Sun... and we’re still searching for alignments. Call it transcendence, or escape, much needed when catastrophe strikes. From here projecting outwards, to an indefinite whereto. Whoever this missive reaches, you can find us at the museum; and please, do get in touch.
Ileana Selejan
1. To be read accompanied by Hildegard von Bingen’s “O Virtus Sapientie” sang by Karen Clark, contralto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1mLpRxO3M&feature=emb_title&ab_ channel=333Spiral 2. See: Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis, sive Ars Magna Consoni et Dissoni (1650). 3. See: Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus (1664). 4. Christiaan Huygens, The Celestial Worlds Discover’d (London: Timothy Childe, 1698)
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The Earth’s internal structure, as hypothesized by Kircher, in Mundus Subterraneus, 1664.
“Piedra del sol” [Sun Stone] (1502-1520), Mexica sculpture describing humanity’s relationship to the cosmos. Diameter 358 centimetres, weight 24,590 kg. It was buried after the Spanish conquest and was rediscovered in the late 18th century. The image shows the stone in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, photographed sometime between 1880 and 1897.
Christiaan Huygens, Death taking of his head, sketches for projection with his lanterna magica (1659)
An image of the Holy Spirit-inspired Hildegard and her scribe from the Rupertsberg Codex des Liber Scivias, c. 1180.
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13m10j Adela Muntean Adina Ochea AIA Adrian Ganea Adrian Sandu Alex Antonescu Maria Borțoi Alex Boca Alex Halka Alexandra Boaru Alexandra Drăgulinescu Anamaria Tatu Apparatus 22 Arantxa Etcheverria Cătălin Alb Cătălin Petrișor Ciprian Ciuclea Claudiu Cobilanschi Colorblind Dan Chiș Daniela Palimariu Dragoș Dogioiu dslx Ema Motea flo’ Gabriela Mateescu Ioan-Liviu Orlețchi Ioan Paul Colta Ana Meile Colta Iulian Leonard Josepha Blanchet Larisa Crunțeanu Levente Kozma Maria Balabaș Maria Ramani Mălina Ionescu Andreea Medar Marta Mattioli Mihai Pacurar Mihai Sălăjan Mihai Zgondoiu Mihnea Rareș Hanțiu Miron Ghiu Nita Mocanu Răzvan Dumitrescu Liana Săulescu Paula Flores Richard Kitta Sándor Bartha Selina Yilmaz Sandra Ungureanu Silvia Moldovan Sorin Neamțu Ștefan Botez Taietzel Ticalos Thea Lazar VARPtv Cartoon V. Leac curatori: Calin Man Ileana Selejan 13
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13m10j: Code 31 Shades - I.P. [ 2122062012 ] (02:08) 2020
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Adela Muntean: Media Universe (04:49) 2019
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Adina Ochea: Voyeur (06:03) 2020
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AIA: recon (03:00) 2020
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Adrian Ganea: Modern masters promise very little (03:07) 2020
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Adrian Sandu: All around (20:00) 2020
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Alex Antonescu & Maria Borțoi: X and Y (02:37) 2020
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Alex Boca: AI râs, ai pierdut (10:00) 2020
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Alex Halka: Fictive Opening Credits (04:55) 2020
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Alexandra Boaru: Absorption and Assimilation (01:31) 2019
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Alexandra Drăgulinescu: Defect (00:28) 2020
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Anamaria Tatu: a line is a circle (2020)
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Apparatus 22: The Ecstasy of Giving (08:18) 2020
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Arantxa Etcheverria: Comedia (03:11) 2015
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Cătălin Alb: Washing hands at least for 20 seconds (05:51) 2020
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Cătălin Petrișor: Seen each other (08:00) 2018
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Ciprian Ciuclea: Remote proximity (13:12) 2019
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Claudiu Cobilanschi: Rezonanță în amfiteatru (08:59) 2020
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Colorblind: Exponential Growth of Beliefs (04:15) 2020
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Dan Chiș: Shift (04:25) 2020
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Daniela Palimariu: Japan (Cocorosie) (05:05) 2009
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Dragoș Dogioiu: ION (09:24) 2020
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dslx: Untitled_er14QR [ eating ] { cH_aoskampf } (01:40) 2020
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Ema Motea: Dă muzica mai încet, să te văd mai bine (01:58) 2020
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flo’: isolate (04:42) 2020
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Gabriela Mateescu: When I want to (05:00) 2014
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Ioan-Liviu Orlețchi: Osaka Castle Ukiyo-e (00:50) 2020
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Ioan Paul Colta / Ana Meile Colta: You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (02:45) 2020
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Iulian Leonard: popcorn in space (05:58) 2020
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Josepha Blanchet: Different shapes of water (10:31) 2018
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Larisa Crunțeanu: A Small Insignificant Love - music video (04:12) 2018
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Levente Kozma: Fragmentele zilei (09:00) 2020
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Maria Balabaș: Peștera (08:15) 2020
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Maria Ramani: 1 (03:45) 2020
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Mălina Ionescu & Andreea Medar: August grass. Nothing much to do I (03:58) 2019
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Marta Mattioli: selfless (02:25) 2020
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Mihai Pacurar: Stretch (clip) (03:07) 2020
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Mihai Sălăjan: Exfoliaj (02:41) 2020
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Mihai Zgondoiu: #rien (00:27) 2018
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Mihnea Rareș Hanțiu: Ferestre 400x (59:00) 2020
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Nita Mocanu: seară mistică roz / pink mistical evening (01:00) 2020
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Paula Flores: In a language we don’t understand (04:01) 2020
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Răzvan Dumitrescu & Liana Săulescu: Spațiul afect (07:11) 2020
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Richard Kitta: Window (00:52) 2020
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Sรกndor Bartha: Quarantine Work (02:01) 2020
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Selina Yilmaz & Sandra Ungureanu: Teaching crabs how to read (00:56) 2020
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Silvia Moldovan: Porumbel la becul rosu si sunete din imprejurimi (03:00) 2020
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Sorin Neamțu: Untitled (01:14) 2011
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Ștefan Botez: On Youth and Destruction (07:09) 2020
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Thea Lazar: Quarantined Dreams (02:15) 2020
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Taietzel Ticalos: The pervasive sense of passage (02:43) 2020
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Taietzel Ticalos: TechnoVisions (net based work) 2020
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VARPtv Cartoon: PROGRAM (01:48) 2020
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V. Leac: Suprafața 0 / sound: Miron Ghiu (05:34) 2020
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cinema ARTA Arad
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kinema ikon, Muzeul de Artă Arad
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Media Art Festival Arad 7th edition SyZyGy • organized by: kinema ikon / Centrul Municipal de Cultură Arad partnering institutions: Complexul Muzeal Arad curators: Calin Man, Ileana Selejan • catalogue: editor: kinema ikon concept, design: reVoltaire translation: Ileana Selejan photo credits: the authors • © authors & editor, 2020_ all rights reserved • Media Art Festival Arad mediaartarad@gmail.com www.mafa.ro