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Aganta Kairos by Laurent Mulot
2 minIn 2012 and 2013, Laurent Mulot established places of celebration of the passage of neutrinos, ghost particles considered by astrophysicists to be essential cosmic messengers, on the coasts of the five oceans. Their passage leaves no trace, but it is detected by deep-sea KM3Net Antares telescopes. Laurent Mulot conducts a performance on each site with local witnesses, which includes laying a commemorative plaque. In 2018, the artist continued his work on the shores of Lake Baikal, the « 6th ocean ».
The resulting work, Aganta Kairos (« To fish the metaphysical time »), intersects the questions posed by humans to the cosmos, whether they come from the scientific mind or the magical mind with shamanism or mythology.
The exhibition initially planned at the Galerie le Bleu du ciel in May 2020 is postponed due to the Covid-19 coronavirus health crisis. Discover a selection of photographs form part of the work alongside videos and sculptures.
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2/12Aganta Kairos, Greenland
Aganta Kairos is part of the generic piece Middle of Nowhere by Laurent Mulot, a long-distance work set in six continents. In all his work, he collaborates with inhabitants he meets in the territories he travels to. In Aganta Kairos, a celebration marked by a plaque, the site of the work is inaugurated and two witnesses are inducted to be the invisible, the conservators of the work and the poetic gesture.
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3/12Aganta Kairos, Indian Ocean
Francisco Heriniaina and « Mr President », head of Efoetsy (« the navel »), a village of 200 inhabitants from the Mahafaly ethnic group, zebu farmers.
The Mahafaly have a close relationship with constellations, the ocean, the deceased and newborns.
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4/12Aganta Kairos, Arctic Ocean
Julius Nielson, hunter-fisherman and guide, and Gerd Ignatuussen, Inuit shaman, are the witnesses for Aganta Kairos in front of the Sermilik Fjord glacier. Here in the Arctic Ocean, the goddess Sedna governs underwater life.
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5/12Aganta Kairos, Pacific Ocean
Pauline Harris, an astrophysicist, and Pere Tanui, both Maori and members of the Onuku community which celebrates the sea, the land and those who look up to the sky, welcomed Laurent Mulot into their clan after initiating him and being witnesses to Aganta Kairos.
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6/12Aganta Kairos, Atlantic Ocean
Yves Leber is the grandson of the former owner of Porquerolles Island, the land closest to the ANTARES deep-sea neutrino detector. Thierry Stolarczyk is an astrophysicist at the Institut de recherche fondamentale sur les lois de l’univers (Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe, CEA Saclay), scientific guide and advisor for Aganta Kairos. These are the Aganta Kairos witnesses for the Atlantic Ocean.
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7/12Aganta Kairos, Antarctic Ocean
The two witnesses for the Antarctic Ocean are Stanislas Devorsine and Benoît Hébert, both former captains of the Astrolabe. Benoît Hébert was also involved in the construction of the 6th Centre for Ghost Contemporary Art in Antarctica.
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8/12Aganta Kairos and the 6th ocean
Zhan-Ayrs Dzhilkibaev, Chief Scientist for the Baikal Neutrino Telescope and Vitaly Schur, engineer and the only permanent resident of the research centre, inaugurated the 6th Aganta Kairos plaque in the 2nd « garden » overlooking Lake Baikal. For Vitaly, the lake is a person.
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9/12Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is considered an ocean in formation. To detect the passage of neutrinos, physicists plunge optical modules deep into the lake when it is frozen. After this exercise, there is nothing left of the experience – which has also become a ghost.
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10/12On the island of Olkhon (Lake Baikal)
Valentin, a shaman on the island of Olkhon, considered to be the cradle of world shamanism, talks with Lake Baikal, its flora and fauna like so many living beings. Alongside the driver of his « jicouly », an iconic Soviet Lada, he celebrates Aganta Kairos in an incantation to the cosmos.
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11/12Tawhirimatea Beach, New Zealand
While science, shamanism and mythology do not proceed in the same way, they do not provide the same answers to questions about our origins and those of the universe that contains us, but the questions are sometimes connected. Tawhirimatea, the inconsolable Maori god of the original separation between earth and sky, celebrates the inseparable bond between these two entities; Aganta Kairos celebrates those who look at the earth, the sky and the sea…
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The Institut français and the project
Aganta Kairos, by Laurent Mulot is supported by the Institut français in partnership with the City of Lyon.
The Institut français partners with local authorities to develop international artistic exchanges.
Find out more about project assistance programmes in partnership with local authorities