DEEP FIELDS - Cibrian Gallery

DEEP FIELDSFELICIE D’ESTIENNE D’ORVES

DOSSIER

09/04/2019 - 08/06/2019

For this exhibition the French artist Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves (Athens, 1979) proposes a reflection around ‘deep’ fields of visual perception that she denominates «Deep Fields» which in line with the work of the Land Artists of the 1970s offer new areas of artistic exploration.

The name of the show is inspired by an image of a small region in the constellation of Ursa Major taken by the Hubble telescope and known as Hubble Deep Field (HDF). In this seemingly empty region of the sky, a window of a few millimeters has revealed nearly three thousand distant galaxies embracing a cosmic perspective of more than thirteen billion light-years. HDF (Hubble Deep Field) is a photograph, a visual proof of an infinity of worlds in which each galaxy contains billions of suns. The image testifies to other dimensions of reality and literally projects thought into new horizons.

DEEP FIELDSFÉLICIE D’ESTIENNE D’ORVES

DOSSIER

C / H E R N A N I 21 | 2 0 0 0 4 | S A N S E B A S T I Á N | S PA I N | + 34 9 43 435 18 6 | I N F O @ C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M | W W W. C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M C / H E R N A N I 21 | 2 0 0 0 4 | S A N S E B A S T I Á N | S PA I N | + 34 9 43 435 18 6 | I N F O @ C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M | W W W. C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M

‘Do I dare/Disturb the universe?/In a minute there is time/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.’ Like T.S. Eliot’s ageing narrator in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock, one can question the meaning of all actions when time is up, for whatever time is left, time is always up – our days are numbered. ‘What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?’ (Ecclesiastes, 3, 9). So why all the rush? Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves takes a singular attitude towards action. Stepping back and making a pause may help put things into perspective: look up, look afield, look beyond. The visual artist doesn’t say: do nothing. Acting is relating. And the first act is seeing. Everything is relative, yes, but everything is related – all is one. Watch, contemplate – embrace the universe. In her solo show Deep Fields, one piece you can see is the image of a sunset, the light-box allures and invites the visitor to take a moment to pause and engage with the photographic landscape. The colours differ from the usual hues of a twilight sky. What you see is not what you get: it is not a common sunset: it is a Martian Sunset.

Just as the impressionists went into the fields to capture natural light, here the artist embraces the landscape through a ‘tele-vision’ (distant gazing) process : ‘I work with a distant landscape which is thousands of millions of kilometers away, my depth of field is augmented by the sensors of the martian rovers and the astrophysician’s models.’ Our gaze and our minds contemplate an ‘extra-terrestrial horizon’ : ‘To watch the sun setting is to experience the skyline. The closer you want to get, the further it will move back. To describe it Greek philosopher and astronomer Anaximander (c. 600 BC) forged the concept apeiron, ‘boundless’, ‘infinite’, ‘that which has no limit’, not so much physical boundlessness as mental infinity.’

Why Mars? Because though no life on Mars has been discovered as yet Mars has never ceased to inspire. It is a metaphor of otherness. Echoing Continuum a film of a sunset on Mars in homage to Éliane Radigue (b. 1932) and set to a score of the seminal electronic composer, inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, her Martian Sunset and other pieces touching on the motif of the Red Planet, such as the Martian Sun series, delve into the theme of horizon as frontier. ‘Mars has been the starting point of scientific research on extraterrestrial life. Studying its environment and atmosphere will help us find out whether there could be any traces of existence in extra-solar systems. Notions of the cosmological horizon dating from the Big Bang or Giordano Bruno’s Infinity of Worlds (1584) have as from now been taken into account in the research of biosignatures on exoplanets.’

The title of this exhibition, Deep Fields, is borrowed from the Hubble Space Telescope’s ‘Deep Field’, the image taken by the telescope (HDF) which was released in 1995. The tiny region shown on the celestial picture seems empty. But emptiness is illusory, that spot in space, the minutest of windows (just a few millimeters), gives us an imperceptible glimpse of three thousand distant galaxies embracing a cosmic perspective of more than thirteen billion light-years and containing billions of suns. HDF attests to an infinitude of worlds. In the same way Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves through her images (Cosmographies) or sculptures (Eclipse, Light Standards, Light DNA) aims to reveal unseen dimensions of reality and literally projects the gaze of our mind’s eye into new horizons.

Pursuing the path paved by the Land Artists of the 1970s, Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves roams not on earth but through the heavens depicting ‘skyscapes’ and sculpting light. Reality is a relation, i.e. both relative and related to, as show the different Light Standards, ‘light gauges’ measuring the time it takes for the light of a celestial body (Uranus, Mars, Venus, Sun) to reach us on planet Earth. Eclipse II is a monumental black disc circled by a luminous ring, but Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves should not be taken too literally, this beautiful minimal sculpture is not so much the illustration of an astronomical phenomenon than a reflection on what she calls ‘deep’ fields of perception. Perception is deeper than the surface you see. ‘Deep’ means ‘beyond’, with the visual artist surface becomes interface, the shadow blocking out light from the sun in this eclipse is no screen but a door to another dimension – infinity.

Sean ROSE, art critic and author.

Mapping Infinity


DOSSIER

C / H E R N A N I 21 | 2 0 0 0 4 | S A N S E B A S T I Á N | S PA I N | + 34 9 43 435 18 6 | I N F O @ C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M | W W W. C I B R I A N G A L L E R Y. C O M

Lives and works in Paris.

The work of Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves combines light, sculpture and new technologies. Her research focuses on vision, it’s processes and conditioning. Her immersive installations use a phenomenological approach to reality, they underscore the perception of time as a continuum. Since 2014, the artist’ researches focused on space in relation to astrophysics and to study the natural light cycles.

Key examples of D’Estienne d’Orves’ work include “EXO”: an audiovisual set-up, that projects laser beams onto hundreds of celestial objects and like the head of a disk player reads the sky and translate astrophysical data into a sound composition by Julie Rousse. “Geometry” a kinetic outdoor sculpture created for the Watermans Art Center and London City for the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Her Cosmos series questions the ways in which natural manifestations of light are grasped by mythical as well as instinctive knowledge. Her “Stellar Convection” sculpture considers the convection at an excessively slow rate of hydrogen in helium in a red dwarf, “Eclipse” plays with the relativity of positions between the viewer, a light source and distant space- times. Her “Supernova” piece, designed with the help of a PhD astrophysicist (Fabio Acero) stages the explosion of a star in three dimensions.

In 2017, Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves converted the two EDF chimneys of Le Havre city (705 ft high) into a space beacon. The plant’s two smokestacks exhale in time with Mars and Venus respectively, lighting up at variable intervals adjusted to the ‘light time’ of the two planets.

Her work has been shown at the Centre Pompidou (Paris) – Nuit Blanche (Paris) – Sorbonne art Gallery (Paris) – Le Centquatre 104 Biennial of Digital Arts (Paris) – New Art Space / Sonic Acts (Amsterdam) – Watermans Arts Center (London) – Elektra Festival (Montreal) – OCAT (Shanghai) – ICAS (Dresden) – Aram Art Museum (Goyang /KR) – Luz y Vanguardias (Spain) – Day For Night (Houston).

BIOGRAPHY

Athens, 1979


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WORKS

Supernovae: Cas A, Kepler, TychoFrom series “LIGHT DNA”3 WORKS White glass, light box, backlight30 x 25 cm per workEdition: 5 (+2 AP)2019

Each work is a gradient composed from spectrometric data of three supernovae (explosion of a star). The colors correspond to the components, chemical elements such as Neon, Magnesium, Silicon, Sulfur, Argon, Calcium, Iron. Astronomers have discovered that the matter that makes up the Earth is the same throughout the cosmos. The violent explosions of stars, supernovae, are one of the most important source of matter and energy of our Universe. The spectrometry and the electromagnetic field (as visible light, Gamma ray or ultraviolet) are tools to understand and define the type of matter that composes celestial objects within distance.

Project developed in cooperation with Fabio Acero, astrophysicist, specialist of Supernova at the AIM/ CEA laboratories (FR). Glass and electronics : 3DO art engineering.

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation with absorption or emission of radiant energy.


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WORKS

GALE CRATER (Yellow knife), JEZEROFrom series “MARTIAN SUN”2 WORKSEmbossing on Arches paper, steel, LED, electronic25 x 33 cm each workEdition: 7 (+ 3 AP) (Edition 1)2019

This installation represents the topography of two major sites related to the research of biosignatures on Mars. The lighting of these low-relief pieces translates into light intensity the position of the sun on the horizon in real time on each of the sites.

‘Gale Crater’ is the landing site of MSL/Curiosity (Curiosity is a car-sized rover designed to explore the crater Gale on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL)).

‘Jezero’ is the next site to be explored by the space probe Mars 2020. A permanent lake was located there and traces of river deltas can still be found.


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WORKS

The Light Standard Series reintroduces the idea of cosmic time linked to natural cycles as a reference system. Each standard corresponds to an object of the solar system and matches the time that light takes to reach the earth from each one of these objects. Hence roughly 8 min for the Sun, 2 to 15 min for Venus, 3 to 22 min for Mars, 2h 23 to 2h 55 for Uranus.

The variable amplitude of each Light Standard follows in real-time the distance between us and each planet in the solar system. On the length of one metre, the LED light reproduces this duration that evolves throughout the year, while taking as reference the true position of the planets according to the predictions of NASA.

The constant oscillations of each Light Standard - scheduled until the year 3000 - seem to free themselves from a fragmented metric time scale, changing instant thinking into long-term perception. Within the entropy of space, the standards are a testimony to our commitment to a planetary system (a common heritage shared by all of humankind) and to a physiological link of species to light.

Predictions given by NASA. Project developed in cooperation with Fabio Acero, astrophysicist at the AIM/ CEA laboratories (FR).Electronics: N. Misretta / R. Chandler-Fry (Ledbox)

SUN, VENUS, MARS, URANUSFrom series “LIGHT STANDARD”4 WORKSSteel, LED, electronics, custom software, variable duration113 x 4 x 3 cm each workEdition: 3 (+2 AP) No.1/32016


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WORKS

MARTIAN SUNSET1 WORKStainless steel mirror, glass, Duratrans printing, LED80 x 60 cmEdition: Unique work (+ 1 AP)2019

“I work with a distant landscape which is thousands of millions of kilometers away, my depth of field is augmented by the sensors of the martian rovers and the astrophysician’s models. To watch the sun setting is to experience the skyline. The closer you want to get, the further it will move back. To describe it Greek philosopher and astronomer Anaximander (c. 600 BC) forged the concept apeiron, ‘boundless’, ‘infinite’, ‘that which has no limit’, not so much physical boundlessness as mental infinity.” Félicie d’Estienne d’Orves

Martian Sunset delves into the theme of horizon as frontier. Mars has been the starting point of scientific research on extraterrestrial life. Studying its environment and atmosphere will help us find out whether there could be any traces of existence in extra-solar systems.


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WORKS

ECLIPSE IIFrom series “COSMOS”1 WORKPainted aluminium disc, light projector120 cm diameterEdition 5 (+2 AP)2012

“Eclipse II helps us to experience the inherent game between the relative position of the observer, a light source and an eclipsing disk. By means of a projection on a suspended circular screen, it pretends to question the instinctive and mystic understanding that natural manifestations of light induce. This interaction and alignment of shadow and light evokes the limits of human perception and distant events that create links in the space-time continuum. Like other projections and constructions of radiant colours created by the artist, she seeks to explore the process behind the vision and the forms that condition our gaze.” Jean-Louis Boissier


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COSMOGRAPHIESPleiades, Sirius, Sagittarius A*3 WORKSFine Art Print. Canson prestige Baryta pure cotton paper 340 g85 x 110 cm each work (without frame)Edition: 5 (+ 2 AP) - n°1/52016-2017Printed 2019

WORKS

Photographs of Land Art installation in Atacama and Utah, 2016 - 2017DARK SPACE SERIES, ATACAMA (CHILE), 2016BLACK HOLE SERIES, BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS (UTAH, USA), 2017

Cosmographies is a Land Art project that consists of an ephemeral installation with laser lights in different parts of the Atacama Desert and the Bonneville Salt Flats, where the horizon cleared and the dimensions of the space are used to establish a visual balance between the ground plane and the sky. These lasers use geometry to track space and define a specific position within the cosmos. This large-scale drawing tool allows the artist to establish spatial relations according to the sites, at a given instant and in a given place. From high power laser pointers, the beams trace lines connecting specific sites to celestial objects at great distances. For example, the cold dark cloud nebula LDN 1768 and his stellar nurseries observed in march 2016 by the Atacama Large Telescope Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory, that is sensitive to submillimetre radiation.

The reach of the dense and rectilinear laser light challenges the perception of space giving us the sensation of touching a specific distance. The beams of light show a relationship of simultaneity in the distance between the cosmos and the Earth that is in continuous movement.


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WORKS

STELLAR CONVECTIONFrom series “COSMOS”1 WORKVideo projection on Aluminium SculptureVisual and music (Frédéric Nogray) Loop duration: 14,27 minutes160 x 90 cmEdition: Unique work (+ 1 AP)2008

The glowing sphere of this video sculpture with cyclic and progressive rotations, shows a movement of molten matter, the convection at an excessively slow rate of hydrogen in helium in a Red Dwarf.

The stretched and continuous time of the audio-visual object is caught in an endless loop like those cold stars that shine for hundreds of billions of years. The sound continuum by Frédéric Nogray, accompanying the video is produced with silica industrial crucibles, it evokes the suspended destiny of the majority of stars in our galaxy.

Convection: Transport of heat by means of fluid movement

Red Dwarf: A Red Dwarf is a small, relatively cold star. Red Dwarfs are, to date, the most common type of stars in the Milky Way, at least in the vicinity of the Sun, but due to their low luminosity individual red dwarfs cannot be easily observed. From Earth, none are visible to the naked eye.

Cold stars: Known as dwarfs, and whose bodies record temperatures similar to that of humans, are cold elements that fade over time, until the little light they emit is at infrared wavelengths.


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WORKS

SUN (~8 MIN)From series “LIGHT STANDARD”1 WORK Steel, LED, electronics, custom software, variable duration10 x 10 x 10 cmEdition: 5 (+2 AP) 2016

The Light Standard Series reintroduces the idea of cosmic time linked to natural cycles as a reference system. Each standard corresponds to an object of the solar system and matches the time that light takes to reach the earth from each one of these objects. Hence roughly 8 minutes for the Sun.

At the centre of this steel cube we find a pinpoint orifice that emits a fleeting LED flash every 8 minutes. This is exactly the time it takes for a photon of light to reach the earth after leaving the sun. To appreciate the intensity of the light, we recommend looking at it in such a way that the height of your eyes coincides with the light emitted.

Predictions given by NASA. Project developed in cooperation with Fabio Acero, astrophysicist at the AIM/ CEA laboratories (FR).Electronics: N. Misretta / R. Chandler-Fry (Ledbox)


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WORKS

DEEP FIELDS1 WORKSlide, candle and magnifying glass22 x 7 x 9 cmEdition: Unique work (+ 1 AP)2019

Augmented by a magnifying glass, we can see here reproduced on a slide, a photograph of the 3000 low-luminosity galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 in a small dark part of the sky during a few days of exposure.

Known as Hubble Deep Field (or HDF) the image covers about one 24-millionth of the whole sky (a shirt button at a 25 metre distance) which corresponds here to the size of a slide of 1 x 1 cm.


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EDUCATION/TRAINING

2003Master’s degree A.R.I., Atelier de Recherche Interactive, ENSAD Paris

1999 - 2002ENSAD, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris

GRANTS-AWARDS

French Institute (PACA) - grant for land art project «Cosmographies» in Chili CNC DICRéAM - development support («Cosmographies» project) Prizewinner of «1% artistique» for Colombes media libraryARCADI - production support («Satori» and «Supernova» projects)CNC DICRéAM - production support («Satori» project)London Greater Authority - Olympic games - production («Geometry» project)Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent foundation - production («Monolithe» for the Nuit Blanche 2008)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS - PERFORMANCES

2019D’un soleil à l’autre, Base sous-marine, Bordeaux

2018Un Été au Havre, Le Havre EXO, La Friche, Marseille

2017Cosmographies, Sorbonne art GallerySatori, Audiovisual performance, Hexagone, GrenobleEclipse, No Time to Eternity, Michael Nyman / Ensemble Céladon, Vienne theater

2016Eclipse, No Time to Eternity, Michael Nyman / Ensemble Céladon, Musée des Confluences, Biennale de Musique de LyonRuines, Maison des Arts de Créteil, Reevox / Friche Belle de Mai (Marseille)Festival Reims Scènes d’Europe, spectacle de Franck Vigroux

2015Satori, performance audiovisuelle, La Friche, MarseillePermanent installation for the library of Colombes, «1% artistique» public commission Macro Temps, installation, Scènes croisées, MendeSatori, Audiovisual performance, Shape Festival, Dresde

2014Satori, performance audiovisuelle, Centre des Arts d’Enghien-les-BainsSatori, Audiovisual performance (music by Etienne Jaumet). La Passerelle, Saint-Brieuc Satori, Audiovisual performance, National theater of Maubeuge

2013Satori, Audiovisual performance, Maison des Arts de Créteil & Avant-Scène theater Colombes (Nemo festival) Satori, Audiovisual performance, Stéréolux, Nantes«Légende d’Éer» by Iannis Xenakis, Audiovisual performance (music play Thierry Besche), Athanor theater, Albi

CV


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CV

2012January to October 2012, Watermans art center, London. Curator : Irini PapadimitriouNovelum, «Légende d’Éer» by Iannis Xenakis, Garonne Theater, Toulouse (coll. GMEA / Thierry Besche).

2011Lot10 gallery, Bruxelles Lot10 gallery, Ivry-sur-Seine Permanent light installation in a post-office, Paris

GROUP SHOWS

2018Greater Taipei Biennale of Contemporary Art Supervisions, Chroniques biennale, MarseilleNuit Blanche, Paris26.01.2018 until 05.05.2018, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Marseille E(c)lipse, Hospice d’Havré, Tourcoing

2017Day For Night Festival, Houston 07.09.2017 until 12.11.2017, La société, Bruxelles Un Été au Havre, Le HavreMonolithe, Luz y Vanguardias, Salamanca Alpha & Omega, Galerie White Circle, Bruxelles Learning in digital times, BUDA, Courtrai Space Oddity, Plateforme galerie, ParisGalerie NMarino, ParisMaison Populaire de Montreuil, Paris

2016Eclipse II, Interactive, Galerie Odalys, Madrid

2015Octaédrite, Prosopopée, le Centquatre, ParisPerspective, Architectures de lumière, la Chartreuse, Villeneuve les Avignon Exo, Nuit Blanche de ParisFestival Méta, Galerie Laurent MuellerAram Art Museum, Goyang Fondation Culturelle, Corée

2014New monsters, Avant-scène, Colombes theater

2013Zoom, Beuavoorde castel, BelgiumNatures Artificielles, Gare Saint Sauveur, LilleD-Light, Accenture, ParisNatures Artificielles, Festival Exit-VIA, Maison des arts de Créteil & Maubeuge SonicActs 2013, The Dark Universe, New Art Space, Amsterdam

2012Their lights, Cultural art center of Saint-Riquier Abbay.Out of the blue / Into the black, The International Digital Arts Biennal of Montreal (ELEKTRA) Journées Electriques, GMEA, Albi

2011La Fabrique Sonore, Experience Pommery #9, Pommery cellars, Reims Augmented senses, The OCT SUHE CREEK GALLERY, Shanghai, China Augmented senses, Oct Art, Shen Zhen, ChinaParanoïa, Gare St Sauveur, LilleNew monsters, TNT Toulouse National Theater


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CV

2010La Source - Le Labo, le LAIT art center, Albi Nouveaux monstres, le Life, Saint-Nazaire

2009New monsters, Gare Saint Sauveur, LilleIzome, Patricia Dorfmann gallery, ParisNew monsters, EXIT festival, Maison des Arts de Créteil & VIA festival in Maubeuge

2008Eglise Saint-Roch, Nuit Blanche de Paris

2004Ecoute, Centre Pompidou, Paris (Composer R.Cahen. Production IRCAM / CEA / ONDIM) Okuparte festival, Huesca, Spain


DOSSIER


C/HERNANI 21 20004 SAN SEBASTIÁNSPAIN+34 943 435 186

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DEEP FIELDS - Cibrian Gallery