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The four elements' history as a philosophical and scientific search was introduced by Émpedocles (490-430 a.C.). Since that time, as far as we know, man had always engaged himself in a quest to understand the ultimate nature of the universe. Many authors wrote about assumptions, theories or possibilities of the four elements being that ultimate answer to the complexity of the universe and of life itself. Believing that mankind could understand nature's ultimate secret discovering the most simple elements was the origin of the greatest adventure in knowledge: a continuous approach to the sensorial world.

We attempted to pursue this historical development and to understand the path of abstraction from a complex world to a system of (only) four elements. We tried to capture basic natural phenomena which the ancient philosophers had in mind when they developed their theory and added our personal level of abstraction by applying digital filters to the footage. Thus limiting the properties of the images to movement, texture and spacial qualities, we found out our own aesthetic approach.

22 minute video projection and suite for orchestra
video: Janek Pfeifer    music: Joaquim Pavão     axxio.net (2006)
interpretation: Filharmonia das Beiras

we thank the following festivals for showing our work:

AVANCA 2006   CINEECO SEIA 2006   CUSCO 2006   FANTASPORTO 2007

 

four elements | water · earth · air · fire