Laida Lertxundi
Double Séjour Situation
Artist's film, 10'12'', 16 mm transferred numerically, digital collage, 2024
IN ORDER TO COMMIT TO REDUCING OUR ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION TOGETHER, THE VIDEO WORKS OF THE MIRE PROGRAMME ARE BROADCAST ONLY FROM 7AM TO 9.30AM, 12PM TO 2.30PM AND 5.30PM TO 8PM. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND HAVE A NICE TRIP.
Double Séjour Situation unfolds before the eyes of users of Chêne-Bourg station like a cinematic stopover. The 16mm film immediately immerses the viewer in a singular atmosphere. Visually, the film is reminiscent of Nouvelle Vague cinema and, in some respects, resembles the feature films of Éric Rohmer. The landscapes filmed, the conversations and reflections of the actors echo some of the French director’s films. However, Lertxundi’s work is about the everyday, in all its forms. The simplicity of human gestures, the objects shown on screen, the landscapes staged and the noises, music, that make up the ordinary are all shown in very large format. What’s more, these ambient sounds, which are normally inaudible because of their banality, even their interiority, inhabit the film in the same way as the other components: they are just as present as a body, a word or an object. The artist creates a closeness with this everydayness giving it a sensitive dimension. What’s more, the film reveals its own technique on several occasions, opening the door to a rich reflexive universe. The film speaks of itself when it attempts to reveal its duration, but fails to do so. This is what the audience observes when two women appear and say ‘the film lasts … minutes’, preceded by the title on the screen. The coloured filters that shatter in front of the camera reveal the tricks of the cinematographic trade, and the sound of the projection apparatus is heard and transformed into music, just like the guitar piece. Lertxundi’s film is about film and language, but also about the relationship between human beings and nature.
Made with Sara Francola, Vera Abdulina, Katharina Adam, Francis Ehrhardt, Iris Schleinitz, Mona Chevalier, Sofia Zamaskaya, Yuna Feuillatre, Zhaoyi Wu,
Hyemin Kim, Sirag Sesetyan, Saad Eltinay, Hanah Ebel Lertxundi, Margarethe Drexel and her students from Universität Mozarteum – Bildnerische Erziehung. And Yndi Ferreira da Silva, Gabriel Legeleux (Superpoze), Cedric Steffens (Canblaster), Camille Delvecchio of Ensemble Solaris.
Sound: Ren Ebel
Film Lab: Transperfect Media
Color: Yannig Willmann
Credits : Fran Fraca
Sound Mix: Christina C. Nguyen
Made with an Eclair NPR 16mm camera, a 16mm Bolex camera, and various sound recording devices. The drawing at the end is a digital collage. I shot sideways with my cameras to fit the proportions of the final screen. I transferred the original film to 2K video to edit it.
Shot in: Innsbruck, Austria, Paris, Rilly sur Loire and Chamonix, France.
Excerpt from: How to Disappear, Haytham El-Wardany, Sternberg Press.
Special thanks Enora Jung, Andre Askandar, CHB Arts Residency (Château de la Haute Borde), Valerie Grondon, Nathalie Pierron, Pôle Image Mouvement Ensba, Lyon
Produced by the Fonds cantonal d'art contemporain, Geneva for the Mire program
