A Forest Stroll To...
A Forest Stroll to the Limits of the Visible and Knowledge Cécile Bortoletti by Raphaële Bidault-Waddington(QUOTATION #1):The symposia have engendered an exchange of often opposing, but never contradictory, ideas. This astonishing encounter of photography, science and art is proof of that…Better known for her fashion photographs, regularly published in such magazines as Dazed & Confused, Self Service, Crash or Nikkei, Cécile Bortoletti invites us to revisit a recurring element in her work — the forest. But this time without makeup or staging, at the risk of propelling us into another world…Photographed at night with a “blunt flash,” without reference points or pre-lighting, the forest becomes a kind of “black box,” mirroring the camera obscura where the photographic image is recorded. It is also an access route toward the paradoxical world of the unconscious and the ethereal.These bizarre images reveal a hollow, almost abstract, space, becoming an echo chamber for our darkest thoughts.So it is not by chance that these photographs were exhibited at UNESCO in Paris, in July 2009, in conjunction with The Invisible Universe scientific symposium, where the elite of international astronomical research came together to share their knowledge on black matter and black energy.Just as the photographic image is often described as a “black hole” — meaning a universe from another reality in which time stops — other scientific concepts are also used figuratively in the artistic world. (See the following page.)(QUOTATION #2):We leapt at the chance to speak with some of the scientists who participated in the symposium, to get their take on the photographic question.Some exciting exchanges!For those of you who like to ruminate at the crossroads of art and science, here are their responses. Take a listen, as you let yourself be swept away by Cécile Bortoletti’s images.An interview with Alain Riazuelo (in French), astrophysicist, Astrophysics Institute of Paris; researcher, CNRS.An interview with ProPier-Stefano Corasaniti (in French), senior researcher, LUTH (Laboratoire de l`Univers et Théories, Paris) and the CNRS.An interview with professor Georgi Dvali (in English), astrophysicist and researcher, CERN (Geneva), New York University and LM University (Munich).
