VIDEOFORMES, the European Heritage Days & the Effervescences itineraries present :
“Under the Centipede Sun” by Mihai Grecu
Video / Sound installation
VERNISSAGE | Friday, September 20th | From 6:30 pm
EXHIBITION | September 21 & 22 | 2pm > 7pm
Chapelle de l’Oratoire
FREE ENTRY
The word Heritage often brings to mind old stones, architecture, artifact collections and design. It’s time to add to this non-exhaustive list the digital creations that have abounded in recent decades in an increasingly significant way in our common heritage.
In 2011, VIDEOFORMES produced the work Under the Centipede Sun by the artist Mihai Grecu (ROU) with the help of European co-producers engaged in a common project: contributing to the constitution of a digital heritage.
This contemplative and immersive video work is a representation of a no man’s land affected by the traces of a permanent state of crisis that has broken the space, burned by the weapons of man and by nature. The video mixes the beauty of lunar landscapes with an experimental approach to contemporary war. This deserted area, devoid of human life, is nevertheless shattered by destructive forces that reinvent the landscape and bear witness to a recent unnamed conflict.
Revisiting or revisiting a work in a time different from its creation brings a new light, a new way of seeing things. In his work, Under the Centipede Sun, the artist captivates the viewer by immersing him in a post-apocalyptic universe, both visual and poetic. His vision of the conflict is personal, yet universal and timeless; each visitor can thus represent the work in a subjective way, according to his own experiences or current events.
Under the Centipede Sun, Mihai Grecu (ROU) Video installation, 2011.
Artist : Mihai Grecu
Music: Yann Weissgerber
Audio mastering: Bruno Laborde
Special effects: Mihai Grecu with the help of Hugo Arcier, Martin Trepreau and Raphael Kuntz
Production: VIDEOFORMES with the support of the European Union Culture Programme 2007-2013 for the project Moving stories, supported by Contour (B), EMAF (D), Invideo (I), OK Centrum (A), VIDEOFORMES (F) and WRO (PL), and with the help of : Mathematic Studio, Arcadi, SCAM & Immanence Interactive, Auversun, APRV (Association Promouvoir La Réalité Virtuelle), Reality-Forge.
Mihai Grecu was born in Romania in 1981. He graduated from ESAD Strasbourg and Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains (Tourcoing), and lives and works in Paris.
Oscillating between video art, cinema and 3D animation, his singular imagery implements, in a dehumanized atmosphere, disturbing visions crossed by parasitic objects, modified architectures and symbol-characters. Through recurring themes – the environment, water, urban life, war – he explores mystery and the subconscious. These visual and poetic journeys, mixing several techniques or styles, are bearers of a new technology of dreams. Mihai Grecu often works in collaboration with other artists like Pascal Lièvre or Niveauzéro. His work has been presented in many image festivals (Locarno, Rotterdam, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal) and in exhibitions (Dans la nuit, des images at the Grand Palais in Paris, Labyrinth of my mind at the Cube, Studio at Galerie Les filles du Calvaire, etc.).
This young artist has already received numerous awards in Europe and elsewhere. After winning his first award at VIDEOFORMES in 2007 for his video UNLITh, he has accumulated prestigious awards for each of his subsequent videos: he was awarded for UNLITh at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, for Coagulate at VIDEOFORMES and at the Oslo Screen Festival, and for his video Centipede Sun at the Festival Curtocircuito in Santiago de Compostela and at VIDEOFORMES 2010, where he won the SCAM digital art award.