Ignisfatuus: residing in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: the Gland, the three hanging glass vials, and the main reservoir holding purified water, in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: Rosa Ponselle in a glade of wild violets, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: detail of the Gland awaiting a gaseous emission in front of the main reservoir, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: detail of the Gland awaiting a gaseous emission in front of the main reservoir, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: the three glass vials that mechanically washed the notes off musical scores during sequential lunar cycles, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus; detail of the Mylar scores rendered visible following exposure to the purified water, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore,1996. See Editions
Ignisfatuus: in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996.
Ignisfatuus: Bellinian Bloom: a fleetingly ephemeral consequence of Rosa's vocal frequency on the climax of a 29-day lunar cycle. Arterial cast of a heart, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996. See Editions
Ignisfatuus: Spontinian Bloom: a fleetingly ephemeral consequence of Rosa's vocal frequency, fleetingly captured on the second lunar cycle as a response to Rosa singing Spontini’s La Vestale, 1996. See Editions
Ignisfatuus: Verdinian Bloom: a fleetingly ephemeral consequence of Rosa's vocal frequency on the climax of a 29-day lunar cycle, arterial cast of a brain, installed in the conservatory at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, 1996. See Editions
Ignisfatuus: vitrine containing the special edition of The Violet Blooms of Ignisfatuus and Aqua Ignisfatuus, 1996
Ignisfatuus: vitrine containing the special edition of The Violet Blooms of Ignisfatuus, the prints here illuminated with ultraviolet light (rendering them visible) and Aqua Ignisfatuus, 1996. See Editions
Ignisfatuus: pigment print, 53 × 35 in.; 135 × 89 cm, edition: 30. 2012 See Prints
1 - 14
<
>
READ MORE
ABOUT IGNISFATUUS (1995–1996)
Ignisfatuus was an ephemeral work which employed the waxing and waning of the moon to allow the delicate aural quality of early recordings made by the late Rosa Ponselle to trigger a cardiovascular system of arterial casts of human organs (heart, lungs, and brain). These organs, planted under glass bell jars, evoked endocrinological processes leading to the production and provocation of memory using the analogy of the idealized moment of a single bloom.
The central figure of the work, the famed soprano Rosa Ponselle, was personified by a gramophone of extremely delicate construction, controlled by the air and governed by the lunar cycle. During the three-month performance Rosa played one disc at dusk each evening to the arterial casts. The volume was controlled by the phases of the moon; her most audible performance, produced by a pneumatic epiglottis built into her trumpet, was heard on the night of the full moon. The blooming process of the organs, represented by the arterial casts, was directly related to the vocal frequency of Rosa’s sublime voice, which released gas from her breasts on the full moon. This gas caused an arterial flow of phosphorescent liquid to enter the casts; the presence of this tracer was excited by an electrified coil of rarified air situated under each cast, causing this fleeting ephemeral bloom.
Ignisfatuus comes from the Medieval Latin for foolish fire. It describes a phosphorescent light seen hovering over swampy ground at night, possibly caused by spontaneous combustion of gases given off by rotting organic matter. The word is also used to describe something that deludes or misleads, an illusion.
See A Violet Somnambulist Spiriting the Fugacious Bloom, New York: Christine Burgin, 2000. LINK ANCHOR -> SAME NAME
CLOSE
