Catalogue des gravités célestes is a mixed media installation that consists of several layers of thin sheets of porcelain paper hanging vertically from the wall on a metal structure. The structure is made of soft steel, which makes the metal bend with the weight of the porcelain sheets hanging from it. The porcelain sheets stacked in this particular way create a subtle visual reference to an archive or a collection of specific information floating in the air. A video animation is projected on the front sheet of porcelain. The inherent translucent quality of thin fired porcelain allows the projection to be seen through several layers of porcelain sheets until the light completely fades into opacity. The video projection is made of hundreds of digital pictures of cloudy skies that I documented on a daily basis over a period of eight months. When documenting the sky, I focused my attention on moments of “tension” in the sky when it might start raining or when the sun might burst through the clouds. By focusing mainly on those moments of tension, I wanted to investigate the similarities and the variations of cloudy skies over a long period of time. Moreover, the bending steel with the fragile sheets of porcelain stacked on it creates a visual tension that emphasizes even more the tension and expectations observed in the cloudy skies.
Porcelain, steel, video projection, 10 x 8 x 25 inches (wall installation), 120 x 120 x 120 inches (installation with projection).
Looped video projection, 2 minutes excerpt of a 30 minutes video.