From Cythera series A (2018)

            Francesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, first translated in English under the title Poliphilo’s Strife of Love in a Dream, is an extremely learned and obscure compendium of the Renaissance view of antiquity. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the work was rather influential, among poets, painters, architects and garden designers.

            Presumably completed in 1467 and published in Venice in December 1499 by the great printer Aldo Manuzio, it was written in an inventive language, consisting of spoken Italian mixed with Latin and Greek with Arabic and Hebrew inclusions. It is very likely that the Italian humanist Leon Battista Alberti assisted in its conception. Its complete title in English would read: The Sleep-Love-Fight of Polifilo, in Which it is Shown that all Human Things are but a Dream, and Many Other Things Worthy of Knowledge and Memory.

            Much of the action described in the book takes place on the island of Cythera. It is there that the two protagonists celebrate their wedding, and Aphrodite appears to them. It is also on Cythera that magnificent and intricate gardens are described, along with ancient ruins and monuments and ceremonials.

            I have never been to the island of Cythera. If I were to create works devoted this theme, I would  superimpose prints from The Strife of Love in a Dream on satellite images of this real island or, rather, to images of any archaeological site close to my house.

            But why am I eventually interested in Cythera? Because it is a sort of paradigm of the gap between a real place and the images of it created and transmitted by past cultures. And this is a fertile gap.

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From Cythera 01. The ruins of Polyandrion.

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From Cythera 02. The triumph of Semele.

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From Cythera 04. The gardens.

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From Cythera 05. The encounter with the wolf.

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From Cythera 06. The three doors of queen Telosia.

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A text which accompanies this work in progress: see chapter five of Return to Cythera.

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Retour sur les lieux, mars 2018

Spuglia CSN 01

 

Spuglia CSN 02

 

Spuglia CSN 03

 

Spuglia CSN 04

 

Spuglia CSN 05

 

Spuglia CSN 06

 

Spuglia CSN 07

 

Spuglia CSN 09

 

Spuglia CSN 10

 

Les dimanches d’hiver, quand en général il n’y a pas d’entrainement dans le terrain militaire du Camp des garrigues, il y a une certaine tolérance, ou peu de surveillance, à l’égard des randonneurs, des chercheurs de champignons et des coureurs. Mais il a fallu attendre le mois de mars et la fin de la saison de chasse au sanglier pour pouvoir pénétrer, habillé comme un coureur et en courant, dans le terrain, pour y placer un carreau de céramique en guise de stèle commémorative.
J’ai trouvé, à l’intérieur même de l’ancien camp d’internement (dont il ne reste que des vestiges infimes) un endroit plat et assez visible à l’improbable visiteur, où la terre paraissait remuée de frais, et c’est là où j’ai placé mon humble témoignage.

Pour le contexte de cette installation,  voir :

Camp Saint Nicolas, October 2016

Voir aussi : Une marche en garrigue, émission radiophonique réalisée par D. Balay pour France Culture en septembre 2017.

 

 

Images for Return to Cythera Chapter 5

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01 M Chabas Cythera

 

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02 Metivet Zuruck von Kythera

 

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03 tragitto Nerval

 

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02 Watteau Cythere

 

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03 Komponada_beach

 

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04 Stephanopoli Aplunori

 

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05 Stephanopoli iscrizione

 

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06 Castellan Tempio di Venere

 

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07 Castellan grotta

 

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17 Castellan San Nicolo

 

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Watteau detail

 

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10a Ermenonville_temple

 

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10b Ermenonville_temple

 

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10 Hypno Citera giardini

 

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13a Hypnerotomachia Incipit

 

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11-Hypn-acrostic

 

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11 Hypnerotomachia_Poliphili_p21

 

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12 Hypn 04

 

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14 Hypneroto trionfo

 

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18 Andrea_Mantegna_1481

 

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17 Andrea_Mantegna_098

 

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15 Hypn ninfe

 

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16-Hypn-Ruins-two-versions

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Images for Return to Cythera Chapter 4

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01b raduno Zeppelin

 

1b
01a Zeppelinfeld

 

1c
01c blasted_from_the__grounds_-_Nuremberg_(1945)

 

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02 Antiquarium 01

 

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03 T-02

 

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04 Bagnoli

 

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05 T-02

 

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06 From Orvieto 01

 

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07 Antiquarium postcards 01-02

 

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08 Antiquarium replay 01-03

 

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09 In Tuscia 06

 

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09 Normannischerturm

 

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10 EKR 01

 

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11 EKR 02

 

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12 EKR 03

 

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13a Serlio terzo libro

 

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13 Piranesi-capriccio-1756

 

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14 Piranesi villa adriana

 

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15 Fuessli

 

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16 Hubert Robert

 

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17 Gandy Bank of England 1830

 

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17 Piantina Pfaueninsel

 

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18 tempio dorico

 

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19 Cavalier

 

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20 Castello

 

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21 Rovina

 

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22 Tempietto

 

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Images for Return to Cythera Chapter 3

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01 Rupestri 00

 

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02 SM di Sala a

 

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03 SM di Sala b

 

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04 SM di Sala c

 

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05 SM di Sala d

 

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7

 

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9

 

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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12

 

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15 Herbert List

 

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16 Anabasis 03a

 

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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18 Anabasis 03c

 

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19 Anabasis 03

 

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20 Anabasis 06

 

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Images for Return to Cythera Chapter 2

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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02a Monte-Zebio-2

 

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Monte Zebio

 

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02 dopo bombardamento

 

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03 fronte Asiago

 

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04 Vivaio

 

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Rigoni Stern 1

 

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Rigoni Stern-2

 

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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07 Purgatorio XXVIII

 

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08 Nella selva 04

 

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09 Nella selva antica 06

 

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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11 Eden 02

 

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12 Eden 04

 

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13 toro Buffon

 

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14 pipistrello

 

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15-Land-paintings-12

 

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PN 01 Vallerosa

 

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PN 02 Valentano

 

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PN 03 Alès

 

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PN 04 Laval-Pradel

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Images for Return to Cythera Chapter 1

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01 Kithira google

 

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02 Gulliver 01

 

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02bis Gulliver 01 detail

 

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03 Gulliver 02

 

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03bis Gulliver 02 detail

 

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04 Gulliver 03

 

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04bis Gulliver 03 detail

 

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06 Gulliver a Montalto

 

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07 Gulliver à Aramon

 

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06 Robinson 04

 

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07 Piero_di_cosimo_caccia_

 

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08 Piero_di_cosimo_1507-08

 

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09 Paolo_uccello caccia

 

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10 Spiaggia Rosignano

 

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11 Rosignano Solvay

 

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12 Rosignano inverno

 

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13 Robinson 01

 

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13 Robinson 03

 

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14 Robinson 02 detail

 

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