Symbiotic Consciousness

2 synchronized HD projections, 2 synchronized stereo soundtracks, 14min 13 sec each.

The sound of the work was developed in collaboration with Morten Norbye Halvorsen.

Symbiotic Consciousness is « a ‘science-fiction’ film that explores the possibility of a consciousness extended to ‘beings other than human’ and the ontological question of the gap between the phenomena and the things ». In it, Louidgi Beltrame puts back to back two film montages in which archival footages and images recently shot co-exist, with a sound composition by the Norwegian artist and composer Morten Norbye Halvorsen. On one side, the pre-Columbian solar observatory of Chankillo in Peru, filmed by the artist, alternates with views of the sun recorded by the NASA Space telescope; on the other, rushes of the Tomba Brion – a mausoleum designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa – filmed in 16 mm dialogues with images created by cellular microscopy, showing the architecture of living cells. Macroscopic views of the eyes of Beltrame, the cinematographer Piippo, and the artist Ieva Kabasinskaite appear in each of the montages. Thus the different vision systems involved in the editing on two screens, contaminate and challenge each other, and generate a plurality of spatial and temporal perspectives.

Exhibition views of Les Envoûtés at the “Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris” from October 1 to October 31, 2021. Photo: Aurélien Mole