ARC LUNA 5th - UNDER A NATIVE MOON
Sunday 5th July. Following the opening and artists walk-through, ARC Luna 5th - Under a Native Moon, remains installed at Espacio Pulpo in Palma de Mallorca. It is possible to visit by appointment - roger@olivenetwork.org
In the exhibition text I begin with this: Echoing Nelson Mandela's iconic passage from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom is an anonymous quote ‘Nobody is born hating a stranger across a border. That part is always taught.’
INTRODUCTION
The project has been expansive and eventful. I would like to thank Alex Peck for inviting me to workshop and install ARC Luna 5th, my second exhibition at Espacio Pulpo in Pere Garau which is a vibrant, multicultural neighbourhood in Palma de Mallorca. I would also like to thank Alek Skoczylas who relentlessly joined the technical experiment and hoisted the sail for this show.
I am thrilled to have been working with painter Jazmin Luna. When I invited Jazmin to take part, I knew her practice would extend this installation into a painterly reverie augmenting the lens based principal elements. I would also especially like to thank Lucy Margaret for curating the hanging and Nix Wood for her, as ever, graceful fairy-tale voice.
RATIONALE
I was in my twenties when I read French film-maker Jean Renoir’s, autobiography, My Life And My Films. Renoir famously believed that society should be organised by horizontal tiers (class and shared human experience) rather than vertical frontiers (national boundaries and geopolitics). He argued that a "citizen of the world" mentality would eventually make the artificial concept of the nation-state obsolete.
Nations are conveniently portrayed as blocks of opposition, or as the enemy to benefit war machine propaganda and strong men leaders. But WE move beyond the vertical frontiers. A fisherman in Palma has more in common with a fisherman in Teshima than with a banker in Madrid. A cellist in St Petersburg has more in common with a cellist in Bejing than he does with a banker in Moscow. And so on.
Here is a one minute clip of the ARC Luna 5th triptych: Three orchestras from the three main ‘powers’ American, Russian, Chinese, play Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, synched on the first note. While the tempo of the orchestras drifts, the music is still, somehow harmonious. Chaotic at times, but still as one, as music crosses borders, joins cultures, awakens understanding and feeds the soul.
UNDER A NATIVE MOON
There is a backstory: This exhibition extends forwards from a road trip I made in I982 from which came Le Panoramic, a photographic journal, shot on 35mm and processed by hand. Written before the digital age, my poem Under a Native Moon considers the reach and effect of satellite communications.
Images from Le Panoramic are the cornerstone of the exhibition. Images of a rustic yet theatrical world that are then retold in the ensuing denouement, evoking a timeless aesthetic.
THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SAIL
There is an image of a tower and a mountain in Le Panoramic which I wanted to use as a central motif alongside the three orchestras. And to make this work I decided it needed to be large scale and site specific thus occupying the entire facing wall in the atrium at Espacio Pulpo - 5 x 4m. This led us to search for an abandoned sail which we then trimmed and hoisted at Jazmin’s rural studio in order to receive a projection of the image to provide the outline for her charcoal markings. Then, from the flow of paint, merged with dust and grasses from the dry earth, the tower and the mountain started to appear.
The symbolism of the sail: the sail was the way to connect, letters carried on the wind. Could that be seen as an early iteration of satellite communications, and indeed the careless internet. When, to write a letter by hand and send by ship, you had to make an enormous effort, and thus consideration. You had to care for your words.
The mountain: a universal symbol of spiritual elevation, stability and transcendence. Across cultures, it represents the boundary where earth touches the heavens, serving as a powerful metaphor for human potential, the overcoming of obstacles, and the journey toward enlightenment.
DENOUEMENT
Is it whimsical to suggest that we should now follow the music rather than strong men leaders? To suggest that hierarchical structures or what Renoir called vertical structures, are archaic in an age where populations can talk to each other in an instant. To suggest that leadership is about tolerance and understanding rather than so called power.
I think that that is the reason behind the ARC Luna Orchestras. To move beyond hierarchies towards egalitarianism. This can be suggested, perhaps in an abstract or instinctive way, through art, as well as being called for by thinkers and change organisations in civic society under the banners of systems change or new internationalism.
We have the opportunity, as the three orchestras suggest, to move beyond hierarchical systems into more thoughtful human dialogues. Hearing the voice of the stranger across the border.
VISITORS QUOTES:
Thank you Roger and Jazmin, for mountains and feathers, connecting and elevating, human beings, through art and kindness
In any way, it is the path, and not the arrival point - thank you for showing this in such a poetical, careful and open way
Thank you for the message, peace and friendship between the people, no to war
If you see a mountain of foam, it is my verse that you can see, my verse is a mountain and a fan of feathers
Thank you for transmitting your sensitivity
PRODUCTION STILLS
Here are a few production, opening and artists walkthrough images. Thanks to Sarah Lorenzo Napper and Jonas Verner Carlson for some of the images here.
Various texts exist. If you would like to know more about the exhibition please contact me: roger@olivenetwork.org
PRE PRODUCTION NOTES: ARC LUNA 5TH - notes towards an installation
Three Orchestras, American Russian Chinese, playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, synched on the first note.
While the tempo of the orchestras drifts, the music is still harmonious. Chaotic at times, but still as one.
This 34 minute version follows each symphony to its conclusion. Another, abridged version, will be prepared.
ARC LUNA 5TH is a note towards the ignorance of tyranny and absurdity of war, in this, our only home,
as music crosses borders, joins cultures, awakens understanding and feeds the soul.
A gallery of experimental texts, fonts and images.
BACKSTORY
Under a Native Moon: An early poem that reminded this work to happen.
In 1982 I hitched from Paris to Rome in search of a film, Commotion. On the way I recorded a photographic journal of the journey - Le Panoramic. There is a short poem called Under a Native Moon which alludes to the fact that, here we all are, so let’s see that, and try to understand understanding.
Following, a collection of images and words that will be both backstory and pastoral setting for the installation.
