LIGHT GATHERING is both a live performance and a numeric installation, created by Ismael Peltreau and Camille Guitard. This artwork is inspired by the earliest techniques used in astronomy and in the study of the Sun. LIGHT GATHERING is a way to create connections between science and poetry, and try to develop different narratives inspired by lights and glitches.
For this project, we created our own heliograph inspired by technology used in the 1850s. A heliograph is an instrument used to measure the duration of sunlight at a specific point on the Earth’s surface. More specifically, it allows one to “draw” using the sun’s heat to burn patterns onto paper or wood. The heliograph is a device designed for the photographic or cinematographic observation of the Sun; it records and captures the Sun’s path and the burn marks it leaves.
But the heliograph is also the name given to a wireless communication device whose signal consists of flashes of sunlight reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by rotating the mirror or by interrupting the beam of light with a shutter. The language used to communicate with the heliograph is Morse code.
We have built our own heliograph and will film it live throughout the day on August 12. This will allow us to trace the eclipse and engrave it into wood, leaving a record of the sun and this astronomical glitch. This video footage will be streamed live, allowing viewers to watch the sun’s imprint takes shape in the wood. This 24-hour video will then be played on a loop until the end of the biennial.
LIGHT GATHERING is also a numeric installation that blends foundfootages with poetics images and narrative elements, at the intersection of astronomy and poetry. This installation aims to bring together resources from various fields to create a narrative centered on light as a source of life.
This artwork is a way to bring people together, to connect with one another, regardless of nationalities or differences. This eclipse is a moment during which we wish to write a mutating, hybrid story and to consider the ephemeral and the present time as a way of thinking.
LIGHT GATHERING is an ode to slowness, contemplation, and interruption.