Deception Island
2017
Video installation on large three-channel screen
(also available as a single-channel projection, cinema version)
13’, loop






The Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899) marked a bold episode in the exploration of the white continent. Having successfully reached new territories and achieved several scientific breakthroughs, the RV Belgica ship found itself trapped in the ice for nearly thirteen months. During this forced wintering, the absence of light in the polar night provoked illness, depression, and even cases of dementia among the crew.

This interdisciplinary piece – part performance, part social work, part film, and part installation – Deception Island explores the invisible aspect of a myth and tells the story of a historical ellipse. Erased from official history, this epic is replayed by actors in the New Belgica industrial site, where an identical replica of the RV Belgica is being constructed by prisoners from Antwerp in collaboration with the De Steenschuit social workshop. The ship’s skeleton can be seen as a metaphor for historical reconstitution, which is a constantly evolving, fragmentary, and incomplete process. Structured as a triptych, the narration is divided between three screens, thereby creating the repetitions and interruptions inherent to the temporality of the wintering.












CREDITS

Cast: Fabien Magry, François Neycken, Baptiste Sornin,Jean-Benoît Ugeux
Director of Photography: Jorge Piquer Rodriguez
First Assistant Camera: Samuel Fleury
Gaffer: Cyril Dupont
Best boy: Angel Paredes
SFX: Pedro d’Agosto
Sound: Lionel Vinck
Voices: Rob Hayden, Fabien Magry
Special Thanks: De Steenschuit, Olivier de Schrevel and Charlotte Rolin
Production: Stéphanie Roland Studio

With the support of 
Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.



SCREENINGS

- Antarctica Pavillon, Venice Biennale, Italy
- Tendencies, Bozar, Belgium
- Racovitza festival, Vaslui county museum, Romania
- Arslan screening, UDK - Berlin, Germany
- Belgica festival, Havenhuis, Belgium
- Pilotage, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Belgium
- Rencontres Internationales Paris / Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Germany
- Rencontres Internationales Paris / Berlin, Louvre Museum, France
- Prix Jeunes Artistes FWB, Wiels, Belgium
- Narration.s, La vallée, Belgium
- Deception Island, Musée de la Photographie, Belgium
- 25 ARTS SECONDE, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, France
- Cinéma Prospectif, Centre Pompidou, France
- 5th birthday screening, Blue screen, Belgium
- Champ libre Stéphanie Roland, Poelp, Belgium
- Archipels fantômes, île Nouvelle, France






Stéphanie Roland Studio