O Êxtase e o Éden
[Ecstasy and Eden ], 2014
16mm film transferred to HD, 4:3, color, sound, 8’10’’

with António Poppe

A steam machine starts running, along with a mimicking voice. In a dream-like state, flowers appear. They only go away when the machine slows down.

The film is based on a progressive ecstasy of a mechanic body which, when it eventually reaches its maximum flow of energy, drifts into a dreamy state — an envisionment of plants. The plant models, as machines, also show themselves to the observer and, between beauty and genitalia, one is brought back to reality, to the flow of steam, traction and motion, gradually slowing down until the point of stoppage. The sound is the third character of the film, integrally made out of sound effects produced in collaboration with António Poppe, a Portuguese poet working with meditation as a medium. As a direct interpretation of the film’s montage, the sound aims to constitute a mechanical language. This language, operating as an extension of the human body, is produced as a pure act of ventriloquism, in the sense that it brings life into the inanimate characters, both machine and plants.

Dan Gunn

With the support of Museu da Ciência da Universidade Coimbra (PT), Fábrica da Pólvora de Vale de Milhaços (PT) and CRAC Alsace (FR).

Special thanks to Graça Filipe and Francisco Moura, Filipa Oliveira, Elfi Turpin and António Poppe.