3 minutes of darkness

Copyright artist(s) and courtesy argos

Artist(s)

Year

2003

Duration

00:03:29

Installation

Original format

miniDV

Color

col.

Color system

PAL

Languages

Spoken: French , Dutch; Flemish

Availability

Distribution
Collection

‘3 minutes of darkness’ gives an approach to the visual perception the individual has of the world from the viewpoint of the astronauts: the work shows the rotation of Earth from geostationary stations. We see a completely dark image, but the contours of the continents are spotlighted by the signs of human presence. The accompanying voiceover – first in Dutch, then in French – tells about the rumour that from the Moon we can only see the Great Wall of China and the Belgian public lights, then we follow a description of the areas and the countries where lights are never turned off. Finally, nowadays a real event would be to turn the light off for a moment and this is what Dekyndt asks to do to the spectators for three minutes on every December 21st.