In 1919, while European physicists and astronomers attempted to validate Einstein’s Theory of Relativity by observing a solar eclipse, the people of Sobral – then a small town occupying a tiny portion of the globe – were still ruminating on notions of sin and punishment under the veil of the Church and religious beliefs. In that historical context of brutal separation between science and culture, light as a key element in proving relativity would cast huge shadows over the population of the Brazilian backlands (sertão) – a land punished by relentless drought and sunshine that some would say might muddy man’s ideas under such unbearable heat, while those who were more lucid attributed the “lack of light” in the people to the overwhelming weight of religious obscurantism and the influence of agricultural oligarchies that historically subjected the country to economic and cultural backwardness.
Located between historical research, artistic investigation and philosophical speculation, Daniel Frota de Abreu’s Black Sun focuses on the scientific feat of British astronomers in tropical lands that ultimately validated the biggest ace in the hole in the history of modern physics, namely the unification of the notions of space and time. Beyond the specific scientific issues of relativity, the artist’s interest lies in the collision between two worlds around this theory, which resulted in endless tales and anecdotes revealing the critical perspectives of both civilizations. On his arrival in the city, the artist met with locals and visited historical sites for the solar eclipse that darkened Sobral’s world for a lapse of time, relativizing not only the laws of physics formulated up to that point, but the political and cultural dynamics of its people. The superstitions fostered by the imagination of its native inhabitants forged a scenario of apocalyptic hues imbued with the discourse of the Church, via the local press: instead of unravelling the mystery surrounding the eclipse and the astronomers’ expedition, it opted to “translate” scientific discourse into “informative” texts that, to some extent, ultimately reiterated Catholic fundamentalism.
Enlightening in its apparent mutism, Black Sun launches us on a journey through time and space, in a dimension that runs parallel to what we call the present. Points in an infinite network of possible connections indicate multiple “wormholes”, another term used by physics to describe a link between separate points in spacetime, or between a black hole and a white hole. As we skirt along the edge of knowledge about the universe and our own history, we wait for the end of times in epic expectation, or even an eclipse that will either blind us completely or perhaps make us clairvoyant.
Bernardo José de Souza
Artistic Director - Iberê Camargo Foundation
