Poetical Revolt…

…. is an installation lauding poetry and its incendiary power and a collaborative project by Tutsy Navarathna, Yoon, Chimkami and Angie Abraham. Jazz Wikifoo participated as whizz kid for some of the scripting.

The installation is part of a bigger project called ‘Printemps des Poètes’ (Spring of the Poets) which will take place at the 5 adjoining French sims (Paris 1900, Les Champs-Elysees, Paris Eiffel, Paris Couture and Paris 2000). The curators of this project are Olympe Rhode and Darcy Mokeev, together with artists and poets involved in this French community. Some have a gallery, some do not, but they all were invited to make a Spring Poet exhibition, starting at March 23. Visitors can easily recognize which galleries and spaces are participating by looking for this logo:

Back to Poetical Revolt now, which will open as first.  The installation is located at the Galerie des Machines at the Paris Couture sim. This gallery is owned and curated by Olympe Rhode and we were invited to be part of the afore mentioned project. We liked to do it a bit unconventional and took POETRY as a concept for a visual and sound experience in which the revolt aspect would be our leading theme, thus the choice for Arthur Rimbaud (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891).

Our work spirit was this:

Everywhere, a wind of revolt blows, a new consciousness arises, a battle is waged between humanity as a whole and a minuscule segment of that same humanity. The keywords? Injustice, climate, pollution! 

 

Voyelles / Vowels by Arthur Rimbaud

I now quote the information on the notecard for the exhibition:

“Vowels” poem of Rimbaud is the inspiration of the setup. It leads us across its colours.

Arthur Rimbaud, a revolted scoundrel, uncontrollable, unwanted, a pariah, and the man whose poems not only drastically transformed poetry but also opened a new window of understanding for the world. Is it not what all art is about? Contribute to a change of consciousness!
So it is for the poets, musicians, and singers introduced here. A personal and non exhaustive choice, of course, and yet all of them prophets and visionaries, all of them unconditionally dedicated to their art — till death prevails.

Arthur Rimbaud was an impossible genius. In our days he would have been an anarchist, punker and socially depraved person. Not the one you would like to have as neighbour probably, because very turbulent in his way of life. Even so, such characters often are the ones that change the world, just the world is not ready for them yet at that moment and they often end poor or like an outlaw during their own life.

Only later their work will be recognised and valued as remarkable, unique and renewing. Imagine to live in his time and read a poem that tells you A is Black, E is White, I is Red, O is Blue and U is Green and then some hard to understand lines about how the world can be ‘painted’ with this concept. No one wrote poetry like this at that time. Only a rebel dared to be different and follow his own mind instead of other people’s expectations.

With his also quite unusual social and sexual life, Rimbaud was a reject, a misfit to ignore and forget. But in the present time all has changed. Rimbaud is one of the names that never will be forgotten, nor what he did for (modern) poetry. You do not have to like him or his work . . .   but he did leave a cultural mark no one can deny. The poem can be read here in both French and English: Voyelles / Vowels by Arthur Rimbaud

‘Our’ Voyelles

I will start with a  little slideshow with sound, as preview for the installation, but it by far does not show the big space and overall immersed feeling you will have when actually walking there. Flying also possible,  but standing still and cam . . . . . . hmmm seriously??

[advanced_iframe src=”https://slide.ly/gallery/embed/d2ea12de76e16089dd80cc0665e71e47/audio/0″ width=”1200″ height=”674″”]

If you click at the gallery link you will hear the sounds we used in the installation (more about that later)
Below is the sound file as separate choice too:

In our installation we decided to connect the revolt aspect of Rimbaud with other persons that stood or stand for big changes due to their revolting acts, style and character in multiple ways. We highlighted only a few, because there are too many to do in one installation. You will meet Femen warriors,  musicians like Cobain, Morrison, Joplin, The Sex Pistols and Patti Smith (who bought Rimbauds house in France) and  painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Oksana Shachko, together with pictures made by all 4 of us (Angie, Chimkami, Tutsy, Yoon).

How ‘to do’ Poetical Revolt?

We know everyone dislikes instructions and even more to act on it. But it really is essential in this case. The whole installation is based on projection via projector lights. And it is optimalised for a totally dark environment. We also use sound. What does this mean for you to do?

1. Set your viewer preferences to Advanced Lightings in your Graphics tab (no need to go to ULTRA or HIGH for that, MID will do fine as well)
2. Set your Windlight to Phototools No-Light (if using the official SL viewer you only can choose NIGHT, which really is less good)
3. Take off your Face Light please. It is light pollution actually inside the installation and you look fine anyway :)
4. Put your sound on to hear the beautiful voice of Angie speaking parts of the poem Voyelles to you in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

The structure itself has 4 big spaces all based on a vowel colour as mentioned in the  Voyelles poem. In the central space you will find all the pictures we made. You can interact at several spots throughout the space: be a Femen warrior, paint graffiti at the walls, be the anarchist in the bar, pose at the vowels. or just sit or walk around as you like. We tried to make it attractive in several ways and hope you will enjoy the intense visual experience and the soundscapes that blend with all.

• All these instructions  also will be present at the entrance. You also will find all other information as well as some goodies and 5 free avatars there.

What if I do not listen to the instructions and be a rebel of my own?

At first I will spank you endlessly. As second measure  I will nominate you for being the best lazy bum of the world at the Nobel Price Committee and force you  to collect the price in public. But ok, let me show you what happens when not following instructions. That’s more fair and clear :)

Information

When: Opening March 23 at 12:30 SLT ( 20:30 EU time)

Where: Galerie des Machines  (TP LINK)

Music: DJ  Ferdy (Ferdynand Straaf)  will do a 2 hour session of musical Poetical Revolt