On the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Salzburg, museum in progress presented a work by the French-Belgian artist Isabelle Arthuis.
The 10-minute video "Satellite" is a satellite journey around Europe made up of several hundred selected photographs. Beginning with satellite photographs of Venice surrounded by water which seem almost abstract, the artistic eye orbits like a satellite around the continent of Europe and portrays a European landscape without national borders or cultural coding. Important geographical elements such as the course of rivers, road networks and large cities are recognisable in the composition and dramaturgy, whereas there are only occasional close up detailed pictures of architectural elements. The "objectivity" of the photographs becomes lost in the flow of images which represent the universal structure of the circle like a satellite orbit.
"Satellite" is a panorama of digitally animated macro and micro shots of cities, river and road networks and monumental buildings condensed into a ten-minute flow of images. Its unfocussed structure defines the relationships between the images. "Satellite" exhibits Europe as a kind of texture – a form of writing whose grammar has yet to be decoded and recorded.
"Satellite" 2001 by Isabelle Arthuis was displayed on six screens of the information system of the Salzburg Kongresshaus in repeating sequences during the European Summit of the World Economic Forum. In addition, the artist was presenting her work as part of the programme "Visions of Europe – Art meets Science" on Monday 2 July.
In cooperation with the Institute for Global Mapping and Research, European Academy for Sciences and Arts, supported by artpool.
