| home > projects > f-route (english version) |
|
|
1.Theoretical and historical background The "F-Route" project fuses an actual location; the "F-Route" together with an abstract concept, which is that of reproduction or reproducibility. Both of these aspects are linked in history by the work of Walter Benjamin. The so-called "F-Route", is a path leading over the Pyrenees, a smugglers route (formerly known as la route Lister) going from France to Spain, and which became particularly known from during the war, when between 1940 and 1941 Hans and Lisa Fittko used it to help wanted Hitler antagonists to cross the border into the safety of Spain, and gave the route its name (see Fittko 1989:1). The F-Route starts in Banyuls-sur-Mer in France and runs along the Pyrenean foothills to Port Bou in Spain (approx. 10 km, see map). Walter Benjamin took his own life (using morphine) on 27.9.1940 in Port Bou after Spanish authorities unexpectedly imposed a block on visas, dashing all his hopes of escape (see Arendt 1971:27). The last manuscript that Benjamin is known to have written while fleeing along the F-Route is missing to this day (an irreproducible original copy of failed smuggled ideas). Benjamin's essay: Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (The Artwork in an age of its technical reproducibility) (Benjamin 1936 (1963a)) is a description of historical, social and aesthetic processes and their relationship with the technical reproducibility of artworks as such. The keywords being: authenticity and (manual or technical reproduction) reproduction, distancing from tradition ("Liquidating traditional values"), the loss of aura, uniqueness against the masses, arranging reality toward the masses, perception and perceptual change: greed according to (images) reproduction, dissipation vs. collection, l'art pour l'art: a theology of art, the original emancipation of the artwork: politic instead of ritual as the fundamental form of art, cult value vs. exhibited value, no image of an aura exists, the camera makes a composition, astronomical time vs. scenic time, reciprocal permeation of art and science. 2.Detailed project description The project is separated into two main phases, RECORDING and REPRODUCING (an analysis of the reproductions process). Phase I: RECORDING A transnational, plastic-acoustic installation following the F-Route and linking, over the French-Spanish border (if necessary with localized information), Banyuls-sur-Mer with Port-Bou. Several "Wind Objects" are planned to line the route (e.g. along 10 km, 1 object per km). These wind objects are sculptures (that move within themselves), specially created on location from locally found material and are so constructed to work as wind-driven sound instruments. One of these objects will be dedicated to W. Benjamin: Manuscripts that flutter in the wind, as reference to the lost manuscripts, see above. The wind objects (when transportable) will then be dismantled after a period and re-constructed in a prepared exhibition room (in their original order). A play-back device will be placed next to each object, so that a reproduction of the objects sounds can be played at will (endless loop). Phase II: REPRODUCING Shows first a form of acoustic reproduction of the F-Route. The path can followed by the exhibition visitors as a form of "following in the foot-steps" to help empathize and re-trace. "Sound recordings give the listener.... a direct contact with the sounds source; like photographs are the traces of reality, a transformation of a source of energy, that can be directly perceived by the senses" (Mel Gooding, in Furlong 1992:11). The objects are also of course in a room and without a wind source and this results in a (perhaps irritating) contradiction, and a distance between visual and audio perception. In so doing this comes in contact with the problematic term "Aura"; "What actually is the Aura? A curious web of space and time: one-off appearances from far away, although apparently nearby." (Benjamin 1963b:57). The exhibition installation will be recorded photographically. 3. Parameters for the project planning Basis: Banylus-sur-Mer (Department Pyrénées-Orientales, region Langudeoc_Roussillon); Perpignan is the nearest city. Planned length: 6 months. Equipment: Recording equipment, microphones; photography equipment; tools; etc (plus possibly: film and video equipment). Budget: 3000, - own resources. Additional planning: Exhibitions (see above Phase II), an in-residence documentation illustrating work, a multimedia presentation (text, photos of the wind objects and sound recordings). Text: Sibyll Kalff & Donald Lessau, 1993 Translation: Domici Muscat, 2009, http://www.domdrum.com/ |
 |
|
Copyright © 2005 - 2011 Sibyll Kalff |