HAIKUS

of LOBSTEIN Pierre

FRANCE, 2003, 00:26:00

Production : LOBSTEIN Pierre
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Allegory, Paris, Landscape, Poetry

Summary :
« Haiku has found its natural place in these “journey stories”
in which it appeared as a break at the turning point of the way:
immobilized moment during which the walker stops,
during which the eyes capture a fleeting impression,
during which the tiredness finds an unexpected balm in the rest…»
(Maurice Coyaud. Le livre du haïku [The haiku book])

My video haikus set out as new visual and urban breaths. These short 26-second-long moments associate a both simple and polished visual impression to the 3 verses of one of the Japanese masters of this long tradition. Each time, a video “gesture” echoes a “gesture” of the calligrapher. Each time, writing and images outline so dense a picture that beyond any illustration or pleonasm, in the contemporary visual roar, the eye of the passer-by suddenly falls on it and, in a pleasant surprise, maybe rests on it.

These new visual breaths can be shown on every already known and future media, from a mobile screen to huge urban screens, to, I hope, the future pages made of electronic ink – e-ink.
Up to now, my video haikus consist of two series that are poles apart.
The first series takes place in Paris and has been conceived in the purest tradition of a cycle of four seasons, describing the pleasure of pacing and rediscovering the city, in the company of the greatest and oldest Japanese poets.
The second series, taking place on Easter Island, is the fruit of a 3-day stay on “the Navel of the World”, the original name of Easter Island. It tells about the magic of strange rituals that, with the help of telluric energies and winds, occur at these stone giants’ feet, those giants with a for ever silent, mysterious and sarcastic face.
This time, Shiki, the first “modern” haiku writer coming from the Shikoku island, was part of the trip, whether we are talking of time, action and author unity.

to print