Archeology of Light

When I learned that Tënk would be programming Archaeology of Light, I was reminded of the discussion that followed the screening of the film a year ago, particularly the moment when Sylvain L’Espérance explained why he had decided to transform his photographic project located in Minganie into a film (an initial project that may perhaps one day come to fruition). L’Espérance mentioned that he had exchanged stillness for movement, not only to better embrace things, but also—above all, as I recall it—to outwit the small digital camera he was using. A small camera that, through its image interpolation, mathematises the world. I am probably fixating on this gesture of outwitting the machine because artificial intelligence has been gaining ever more ground—troubling, unpredictable ground—since that screening over a year ago. How, increasingly, are we to distinguish the true from the false, on top of everything else? But isn’t this precisely a pivotal moment in our relationship to the world and to images? Archeology of Light... isn’t it a much-needed reminder of that mythical time when narratives were not already laid out, dualistic, teleological? That mythical time which, in fact, is still to come, as Baptiste Morisot suggests in his book L'inexploré (2023). For in the face of so much upheaval, we must learn to renegotiate life—just as L’Espérance does by filming at grass level or by reframing landscapes through slow 360-degree panoramic movements. In tune with the world, with the stars, revolutions…

Emmanuel Bernier
Artist, ornithologist, and Head of Acquisitions at Tënk