‘Deformations on the flat universe II - Histories’ is a video projection over a ceramic fiber blanket. The footage includes a little text appropriated from the beginning of the film ‘Velvet Goldmine’ (Todd Haynes, 1998), already an appropriation from Oscar Wilde, which introduces an animation of a square grid being deformed by circular implosions that in turn, build a new square grid. The text relates to the possibility of the return of dreams or nightmares forgotten by those who ‘wrote’ the history, considered as a fiction written by the powerful forces of each era.
Deformations on the flat universe II – Histories
Video projection over ceramic fiber blanket
animation 2:22 m
0,5m x 2,5m x 5m
2009
Video projection over ceramic fiber blanket
animation 2:22 m
0,5m x 2,5m x 5m
2009
Rodrigo Garcia Dutra
"Histories, like ancient ruins, are the fictions of empires. While everything forgotten hangs in dark dreams of the past, ever threatening to return. . ."
This opening line to Todd Haynes’ 1998 film "Velvet Goldmine" is indeed a paraphrase of a quote often attributed to Oscar Wilde. While the quote's exact origin within Wilde's work is debated, it is a widely recognized and quoted sentiment that aligns with Wilde's aesthetic and philosophical ideas. The film uses this quote to set a tone of nostalgia, speculation, and the potential for historical figures to resurface in new guises.
