The Fish and the Morningstar
Video Installation / Single channel video, 6:45min | Part of No Horizon, a many-media project
ABOVE: short excerpt from the single-channel version of the piece
Deep in the desert, among the mining pits and military firing zones, is a clearing full of stone fish, or perhaps severed heads? Underneath and all around, Phosphorus, Life's bottleneck, is leaving the earth.
The video for this short essay was shot in a unique field of limestone nodules at the foot of Mount Zin in the Negev/Naqab desert in Israel/Palestine. It features a slow surface scan alongside narration that moves through several time-scales: first and foremost, Deep Time, geological and cosmic: the time of earthquakes, of the rising of mountains, and tectonic drift. Then, Mineral Time, the time of phosphorus (the element found in the incessantly mined phosphates). Another temporality is that of the fossilized fish embedded within the stone. Finally there is the Now: a time of war and occupation.
The installation version of this piece is presented in a vertical 3:4 aspect ratio, projected larger than human height, with audio in 4 channels: the ambient sounds via speakers, and the spoken sound via headphones. The horizontal single channel version meant for theatrical or gallery screening is the one shown here, with stereo sound.
Versions:
Single channel: 4K stereo digital video (shown in this video)
Installation: see photos below
The Fish and the Morningstar, installation shot, part of the No Horizon show at A_CAC
ABOVE: 3D scan of the rock nodule field documented in this video