The Art Pledge
I Will Keep a Light Burning - Rome Villa Medicis, 2020 by Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil

Courtesy of the artist & In Situ - fabienne leclerc

Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil

I Will Keep a Light Burning - Rome Villa Medicis, 2020

Lambda print laminated to aluminium

3.5 × 48 × 33 cm | 1 3/8 × 18 7/8 × 13 in.
Edition 1/5 + 1 AP

In Situ - fabienne leclerc

Romainville

€3,500

Buy now Contact us

The artwork pledge

Tags

About this artwork

On 14 April 1611, Galileo was invited to Rome to present his first telescope for observing the stars. With the help of this telescope, which increased the magnification of the observed star by 30 times, the members of the Academy of Sciences in Rome were able to discover stars that had previously been unobservable with the naked eye. Thus, for the first time in the history of science and humanity, a man offered to see something invisible. The performance "I Will Keep A Light Burning" presents an installation of a thousand candles reproducing the starry night sky as it will be visible in a hundred years. The candles are lit one after the other throughout the evening, gradually making the stars in the sky appear, thus forming a celestial map of the constellations. This projection into the future shows a sky that none of us will probably be able to see.

By revealing a hidden cartography of reality, "I Will Keep A Light Burning" gives shape to the invisible, to the lines of tomorrow's sky. The artist manages to bring together the three dimensions of time: the past, by continuing the tradition of sky mapping, the present, through this ephemeral installation, and the future, the very subject of the installation. The activity of the cartographer is reminiscent of the ambient paranoia of our societies, feeling the imperious need to plan the future. However, the light of candles or stars has guided mankind for thousands of years and, during the performance, man's apprehension about an uncertain future can be calmed: the future remains to be invented.

More artworks by Renaud Auguste-Dormeuil

See all