Sub Rosa

This is a kinetic light installation that is displayed in an arched room and viewed by the audience at close and mid-range. It was created for the Blooming Festival in the Italian city of Pergola, and so, in line with this theme, we developed an installation that in form is reminiscent of a flower.

It transmits light through its moving petals and exists in a state of perpetual change by the virtue of the moire effect. However, this particular flower is located in a dungeon, so it takes on a kind of symbolic meaning. It does not reach for the sun, but rather becomes a likeness of the sun itself, ultimately becoming an object around which a secret society gathers.

The title of the installation refers to the history of shadow communities and secret meetings that have been held in dungeons since ancient times. This is also an allusion to the sacred medieval rituals for protecting knightly honor from slander, and, in our time, protecting the right of every individual to not disclose what was said, along with protection from the abuse of words taken from a confidential conversation, thus asserting the eternal value of first-person speech.

Credits

  • Concept, production and video: VOLNA
  • Assembly: Viktor Smolensky
  • Special thanks: Alexander Nebozhin
  • Supported by Blooming Festival. Arti numeriche e culture digitali
  • © VOLNA (2019)
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Vague