The Forgotten Cathedral
The prelude to Debussy’s The Sunken Cathedral is one of the clearest examples of musical symbolism. Metaphors hidden in the harmony evoke the ringing of bells and chants from a mythical temple.
This work is based on photographs instead of musical notes. It is based on pieces of reality to create a whole that radically departs from it.
First of all, what is perceived is the least essential part of this construction: the enormous tanks are not accessible and the exterior of the building does not allow us to guess its shapes.
Secondly, what is perceived, small mezzanines crossed by mostly blue pipes, would only allow an expert viewer on the subject to guess what they are looking at.
Without express reference or a photograph of the exterior, the images in this work could pass for a factory building of any kind or a site on the Moon.
In this way, by decontextualizing the spaces, the photograph creates a different reality in which rooms, tubes and machinery have a meaning that depends solely on the perception of the viewer, but not on their perception of the building, but on the perception of what is perceived and decontextualized by the photographer. A kind of “meta-perception” that is integrated into the understanding of contemporary art as a language, in which the photographed elements take on a semiotic character.
These shots come from a single work session with the intention of forcing intuition, which, compared to the rational process, generates a special rhythm of fluid and natural work that could provide a touch of freshness to photographs that continue to be included in the “pure record” characterized by an apparent coldness and precision in the shot.
