SAMAINOS*
On the day when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, Carina Gosselé and Christine Clinckx cut up images, sounds and texts as they transform themselves in an alchemical performance into Antigone and Ismene (who have yet to convince each other in their millennia-long wanderings of the virtue of their actions). Bound to each other by cables, walkie-talkies and i-Pods, electronic impulses aid their materialization of these ancient figures. Their charged brainwaves channel elements of a long-forgotten dialogue, combined with fragments of texts encountered on their 2452-year journey. Dan Decalut translates their troubled discourse into a soundscape, as passers by in this arched railway underpass find themselves immersed in a field of sound and vision.
* The Gaulish calendar appears to have divided the year into two halves: the 'dark' half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation). The celebration of New Year itself may have taken place during the 'three nights of Samonios' (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]), the beginning of the lunar cycle which fell nearest to the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. Samain or Samuin was the name of the feis or festival at the beginning of winter observed in medieval Ireland. It is attested in Old Irish literature beginning in the 10th century. The festival marked the end of the season for trade and warfare and was an ideal date for tribal assemblies, where the local kings gathered their people. These gatherings in turn are a popular setting for early Irish tales.
On the day when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, Carina Gosselé and Christine Clinckx cut up images, sounds and texts as they transform themselves in an alchemical performance into Antigone and Ismene (who have yet to convince each other in their millennia-long wanderings of the virtue of their actions). Bound to each other by cables, walkie-talkies and i-Pods, electronic impulses aid their materialization of these ancient figures. Their charged brainwaves channel elements of a long-forgotten dialogue, combined with fragments of texts encountered on their 2452-year journey. Dan Decalut translates their troubled discourse into a soundscape, as passers by in this arched railway underpass find themselves immersed in a field of sound and vision.
* The Gaulish calendar appears to have divided the year into two halves: the 'dark' half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation). The celebration of New Year itself may have taken place during the 'three nights of Samonios' (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]), the beginning of the lunar cycle which fell nearest to the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. Samain or Samuin was the name of the feis or festival at the beginning of winter observed in medieval Ireland. It is attested in Old Irish literature beginning in the 10th century. The festival marked the end of the season for trade and warfare and was an ideal date for tribal assemblies, where the local kings gathered their people. These gatherings in turn are a popular setting for early Irish tales.
