Otolitalgia: a visual exploration in the furrows of time
The otolith is a calcareous concretion found in the inner ear of fish. It is a marker of their personal history, recording their
movements and the environmental disturbances they encounter. Like most stars, otoliths reveal something that was, but
is no longer. Oscillating a transverse axis from our star to the sea, from the macro to the micro, I wish to translate
imprints plastically: those of the sun and of otoliths.
How is it possible to reveal spatio-temporal imprints anchored in matter?
What does this ecopoetic revelation tell us?
How can we read this memory on a wider environmental plane?
In an ecopoetic perspective, I explore the spatio-temporal imprint of otoliths in dialogue with my artistic approach, from
the Mediterranean Sea to the Schelde River. To bring this project to fruition, several stages will be completed: Discovery
of otoliths; Sailing aboard a sailboat transformed into a sensitive organism, with visual and sound sensors; Scientific
meetings; Paralleling of Solargraphs and otoliths on a visual and chronobiological level; Shaping otoliths in porcelain,
wrapped in glass - a kind of time capsule; Writing about a possible future of otoliths, raising the disappearance of certain
species of fish.
This project will be conducted in the form of collective and multidisciplinary meetings. Images, sound sculpture and
writing will be brought together for an exhibition and a publication, in a research dynamic that will accompany me, even
beyond these two years.
Results
– Proposing a workshop to students (theme mentioned above)
– Proposing an individual meeting time to students every week per month that I will be in Antwerp
– Sailing at sea with captures made around the sun and otoliths. Partner boat: Kassumay, from Hirsute School,
with the captain and artist Fabrice Gallis
– Understand what can be read in the otoliths with precision thanks to the three scientists from Antwerp : Gudrun
De Boeck, Jonas Schoelynck and Ronny Blust
– Meet Kelig Mahe, who models the otoliths in 3D
– Create a new relationship between France and Belgium via the two places on the river and the sea that will host
the Solargraphs sensors
– Create new paper works combining Solagraphs and otoliths. Printer: Silver retina
– Create sound capsules from data collected from scientists. Software: audacity
– Write a story that allows the general public to understand an analyzed otolith
– Create time capsule sculptures carrying the memory of the otoliths, by linking ceramic and glass techniques.
Partners: Antwerp School of Fine Arts, Tina Kath, ceramist in Antwerp, Sati Mougard glassblower in the South
of France
– Set up an exhibition resulting from this time of artistic and scientific research. Possible partner: Port-de-Bouc Art
Center
– Propose an edition in the form of an artist's journal, retracing this temporal investigation, including scientific
data, productions with students and my own research. Proposed partner: Track Report
