Author: jeanf

Memories of the future

Screenshot from Memories of the Future

Directed by artists Amr Elkafrawy and Jean-François Robin Memories of the future is a work that unfolds a dreamlike and poetic environment, stemming from ruins of the past. The main component is a film in 5 chapters and the secondary component a series of sculptures. Through a preponderant strategy of inversion of time, this project suggests a new look at the imaginary of the future in the hope of taming our own faculty of temporal intervention. This project is an attempt to look at the future as if it were past in which we draw dreamlike and oneiric future landscapes, stemming from ruins of the past.

Stills from documentation video made by Bassem El Qassabi during our show in Medrar for Contemporary Art in Cairo. This video was produced by Medrar

Trailer:

Exhibition / Screening:

  • 22.06.2023 – DAFG, Berlin, DE
  • 29.03.2023 – Vidéographe @LaLumièreCollective, Montréal, CA
  • Medrar Cairo, EG February 2023
  • Nictophilia, at Caisa Kulttuurikeskus. Helsinki, Finland organized by KinoKulturKlub – 16.10.20

Credits:

Original Idea
Amr Elkafrawy & Jean-François Robin

Concept Art
Amr Elkafrawy
Art Direction, Screenwriting, Cinematography, 3D Conception, Poetry
Jean-François Robin

Sound design & music
by Emilie Roby, who would like to thank OBORO for its support.

Voice Over
Japanese, Ai Ikeda
Korean, Ahreum Lee
French, Jean-François Robin
Arabic, Amr Elkafrawy
English, Eric Tschaeppeler

Special thanks to:
Kevin Dubeau for all his help and constructive comments throughout the conception of this project,
Joëlle Dubé for her infallible support and constructive critique,
Lynn Hughes for supervising the project,
Ahmed Kamel for his constructive critique,
Eric Tschaeppeler for helping with the English translation,
Jean-Ambroise Vessac for supporting the project with funding.

KEPLER 452B

This project was made during an online residency at KinoKulturKlub (Helsinki) during the first summer of Covid Pandemic.

Date of production: 06.2020

This clip is part of a larger film called Exquisit Futures.

An international, remote collaboration: 10 artists 20 days 1 film, imagening artistic life in the future in a chain reaction of creation. Conceptually constructed productional experiment, inspired by the global lockdown. Collective predictions of post-apocalyptic timelines, visualised by a selection of international artists through ten 48 hour-marathon productions intertwined in a domino-effect.

List of participants/

Exhibition dates/

  • 28.5.2021 11 pm – Alex TV, Germany
  • 29.5.2021 3:20 am – Alex TV, Germany
  • 24.07.2021 Outdoor screening at AV Festival 56800 Simpele, Finland
  • 7.07.2020, Online première on Youtube

Perceptual Displacement

According to Jean Baudrillard in Simulacres et simulation (1981: 53), medium does not exist per say anymore as it is now impalpable, blurred and mixed with reality, so much that one cannot say if this medium is altered or not (Translated from Baudrillard, Jean, Simulacres et simulation – 1981, p53).

This project emphasize on this idea by trying to blur the boundary between the digital with the real by mixing both aesthetics together.

This project stemmed from a residency in LEGI lab (Lyon, FR) in a fluid mechanic laboratory (July 2019) and was exhibited at the black box (Concordia, Montréal, CA) in December 2019.

DOCUMENTATION

Paysage Disparaissant

Paysages Disparaissant, is an attempt to bring the observation principle (Niels bohr) concept into concrete terms. In short, the landscape changes when the visitor is not looking at it, thus depraving him/her from any perceptual map. This project was shown to the public at 4TH SPACE (Montréal – Concordia, CA) during an residency in December 2019.