Video.
Directed by: Lauri Astala and Elina Brotherus
HD, 6min 55sec, stereo, 2017.
In Claudio Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo (1607), La Musica – spirit of music – sends music to the world with a universal message to quieten, listen and open ones ears to music. The aria ends to quietude: “Let no small bird stir among these trees, no noisy wave be heard on these river banks, and let each little breeze halt in its course.”
Cold light of the Moon, nightly sky and warm light tones through the windows echoes the chiaroscuro built into the video stage – influenced by Georges De La Tour’s Saint Joseph Charpentier (circa 1642). In the end, after the music has ceased, the lights turn on, curtains fall down and the illusion of the moonshine chiaroscuro breaks down.