The Whisper of the stars edito

“The Whisper of the Stars”

Note of intent

The video works presented since the beginning of the OVNi Festival are fireflies that speak a language that we miss.

We want to program a programme that will lead us through the night and the tumult. Each of the artistic invitations is a way of learning to recognise the murmur of visible and invisible worlds, of imagining constellations to which only the artists have the keys.

“The Whisper of the Stars”1 reflects the pulsating2 9th edition of the OVNi festival, the year that symbolically marks 60 years of video art.

The proposals made to the public by the Festival and its partners on the occasion of this new edition translate the inventive power of video in the creation, description and deciphering of experiences of worlds. Whatever their performative horizon, the artists’ points of view share the revelation of our modes of existence. The characteristics of their voices compose arrangements that allow us to access the extra-ordinary through the ordinary.

OVNi is the place where all the private and public, national and international initiatives meet to disseminate and defend creation, that of video art, and to accompany the artists, whether their voices are thunderous, whispered or silent.

The expression « The Whisper of the Stars » comes from the astral mythology of Yakutia. A young shaman is said to have performed a rite to create the constellations to save her people from the cold breath of night. However, this gives rise to astonishing phenomena. When the word or the breath of the earth rustles in the air at minus 40°C, it crystallises, remains in suspension for a moment and sings. The moment they touch the ground, a tinkling sound is created that the Yakutes call « the murmur of the stars ». Above 50°C, it is a roar between the ears, akin to the inner spiritual sound that makes one hear « the sound of silence ».

« The Whisper of the Stars » is the vibrational pulse of the 9ᵉ edition of OVNi.

We want to program a programme that will take our heads through the night and the tumult. Each of the invitations and artistic proposals will be a way of learning to recognise the murmur of visible and invisible worlds; of appropriating the curves of universes to which only the artists have the keys and which would trace for us a state of totality.

The video works presented since the beginning of the OVNi Festival are fireflies that speak a language that we miss.

OVNi is the place where all the private and public initiatives meet and where international structures meet to disseminate and defend creation, video art and artists.

Notes

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1. The expression « The Whisper of the Stars » comes from the astral mythology of Yakutia. A young shaman is said to have performed a rite to create the constellations to save her people from the cold breath of night. However, the latter gives rise to astonishing phenomena. When human speech or the breath of the earth rustles in the air at minus 40°C, it crystallises, remains in suspension for a moment and sings. The moment they touch the ground, a tinkling sound is created that the Yakutes call « the murmur of the stars ». Above 50°C, it is a roar between the ears akin to the inner spiritual sound that makes the « sound of silence » heard. The Yakutes, originally called « Sakha » or Saxa, are originally from the Altai (*source International Research Laboratory on the Imaginary of the North, Winter and the Arctic of the University of Quebec in Montreal). Their territory (Sakha Autonomous Republic, located in Eastern Siberia in the central Lena River basin) has experienced the use of nuclear bombs for intense deforestation, the creation of water reservoirs for diamond mines and the sterilisation of water downstream. Permafrost in this region is an indicator of climate change.

2. ◊Quivering (in National Center of Textual and Lexical Resources): a weak oscillating or vibrating movement that produces a sound that is sometimes faint, confused or vibrating; whether localized or generalized, it usually propagates with velocity.