LOOP Barcelona
21 - 23 November 2023
Almanac Hotel
619-621, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Opening Hours:
21 November 2023: 19h30-20h30
22 November 2023: 16h-20h30
23 November 2023: 16h–20h30
We are pleased to present a new work by Kent Chan (b. 1984, Singapore & living in Netherlands) at LOOP Barcelona 2023. Shot during his residency at Medialab Matadero Madrid, Solar Orders, portrays a future subjected to the overabundance of the sun as a consequence of the expansion of the tropics caused by the climate crisis. With the sun as the organising principle of society through the conjunction of narration, moving image and music featuring five DJ collaborators -each located in the tropics: Barcelona-based Gatasanta (Colombia/French), Lynn Nandar Htoo (Myanmar), Disco Puppet (India), Trypas Corassão (Brazil) and Authentically Plastic (Uganda).
Solar Orders imagines a fictional future based on factual observations: the expansion of the tropics due to the ongoing climate crisis. HEAT. HUMID. DRY. ENERGY…the artist-own sign language serves to punctutate the narrative of the ‘ancient Solar Order’ led by three characters speaking in their native tongues: English, Moroccan and Spanish. By weaving together storytelling, ancient myths, and the evocative music of five DJs, this video work explores speculative societies shaped by the transformative landscape shift, envisioning temperate zones evolving into deserts before eventually resembling the tropics themselves.
Rituals revolving around both winter and summer solstices have historically originated around the timing of crop cycles in Northern and Central European cultures. Marked by the lighting of bonfires, these pagan practices intended to boost the sun’s strength for the remainder of the crop season and ensure a healthy harvest as well as to keep demons away and bring good luck to lovers. Contrast this to an iconic visual of solar abundance imbued in the vignettes of the other-wordly solar farm which appear in the video.
Delving into mythical and ancient beliefs concerning eclipses across diverse cultures, the work not only explores the ominous but also embraces the concept of prophecy. Recalling the beliefs of ancient Incas of South America who revered their benevolent sun god Inti, his solar eclipses were interpreted as signs of displeasure and wrath. Following an eclipse, spiritual leaders sought to interpret his anger and decide upon necessary sacrifices. Another cultural belief hails from Chinese traditions, whereby a solar eclipse was perceived as a celestial dragon devouring the sun, as evidenced by the Chinese term for eclipse, which translates to "to eat." In Solar Orders, a parallel is drawn between the DJ, almost akin to a shamanistic medium, and this cultural belief: people would create loud noises, banging drums during an eclipse to drive away the mythical dragon and safeguard the sun. Here, DJ Gatasanta who appears in-person in the final act of Solar Orders, symbolizes a bridge between the earthly and celestial realms, orchestrating a clamourous celebration amidst such cosmic phenomena.
Amidst our collective apprehensions, could climate predictions eventually transform into prophecies? Solar Orders envisions future societies where the Sun becomes the central organising principle, even shaping philosophies of the future milieus. From our myriad energy needs to the food we eat, what would it mean to submit oneself to the superabundance of the sun? What of music’s role in connecting the terrestrial to the solar, at different moments of our path around the sun?
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About the artist
KENT CHAN (b. 1984, Singapore) is an artist, curator and filmmaker based in Netherlands and Singapore. His practice revolves around our encounters with art, fiction and cinema that form a triumvirate of practices porous in form, content and context. He holds particular interest in the tropical imaginary, the past and future relationships between heat and art, and contestations to the legacies of modernity as the epistemology par excellence. His works have taken the form of film, text, conversations and exhibitions.
Recent selected exhibitions and screenings include: 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art; 22nd Biennal Sesc VideoBrasil; Liverpool Biennale 2023 uMoya - The Sacred Return of Lost Things; Future Tropics, Gasworks, London (2023); VIDEONALLE. 19, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (2023); Encounters over Several Plants, Tate Modern, London (2022). Chan has also attended several residencies including, Gasworks, England and the Institutum Singapore (2023) and Het Kilmaatmuseum, Fort Island Pampus, Netherlands (2020).
Public Collections include: Kadist Foundation, USA; Rijkscollectie, Netherlands; Bonnefanten Museum, Netherlands; Hartwig Art Production Collection Fund, Netherlands .
