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Letter of intent for the Israel Museum
Hello,
My name is Olivier Wright., I'm writing to you from France to ask you about 2 works of art located at Yad Vashem that appear in my film project, to ask you for permission to include them in it. First, let me quickly present the project to you: four years ago, while studying philosophy at university, I began working on a passion project that has since steadily grown into a film called Ψ (or “psi”).
My name is Olivier Wright., I'm writing to you from France to ask you about 2 works of art located at Yad Vashem that appear in my film project, to ask you for permission to include them in it. First, let me quickly present the project to you: four years ago, while studying philosophy at university, I began working on a passion project that has since steadily grown into a film called Ψ (or “psi”).
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The film asks the following question: Are we free to be who we want to be, given the nature of the physical universe?
We meet five alternate versions of the same character, having all branched out through their decisions from a common past and now each leading a different life. Throughout the journey, leading philosophers and scientists such as Max Tegmark (MIT) and Barry Schwartz (Berkeley) reflect on choice and free will as the audience discovers beautiful works of art and architecture from the five cities.: Jerusalem, Paris, London, Helsinki and Los Angeles. |
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During my travels, I visited the Israel Museum and was amazed by two outdoor sculptures: “Inversion” by Roxy Paine and “Turning the World Upside Down” by Sir Anish Kapoor. At the time, I didn’t know what this project was going to become, I was simply travelling with my camera in hand, taking pictures of things that I found inspiring. Now, these two works are both essential parts of this film’s narrative and visual structure.
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Roxy Paine’s “Inversion” appears in a sequence exploring our place in the universe: some say that the world is entirely determined and that there is at all times only one possible future, others claim that quantum physics reveals a randomness within all things and that there are multiple different possible futures. “Inversion” appears when the narrator ponders how the universe would be if randomness did indeed play a part.
Extract No 1 (password: paine)
As such “Inversion” introduces us to one of the film’s most important leitmotifs: tree-like sculptures, that work as symbols of the different paths one can take and a metaphor for life’s creativity. The opening quote of the film from Jorge Luis Borges’ famous work, The Garden of Forking Paths:
“I sensed that the garden that surrounded the house was saturated infinitely with invisible persons. Secretly – busily at work – in other dimensions of time.”
This sculpture is a beautiful representation of the randomness that can affect our life trajectories, a concept explored throughout the film with other sculptures such as:
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Quantum Cloud
by Sir Antony Gormley in London |
Silver Tree
by Jukka Tuomine in Helsinki |
Double Lignes Indéterminées
by Bernard Vénet in Paris |
By connecting works of art in different locations, the leitmotifs serve to highlight one of the film’s main messages: wherever life takes you, whether it is Jerusalem or London or Paris or anywhere else, there is beauty and meaning to be found if you take the time to look for it. With its branches connecting the earth to the sky, “Inversion” is a perfect invitation to contemplate our place in the universe, making it one of the defining shots of the entire film.
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Sir Anish Kapoor’s “Turning the World Upside Down” is an essential piece for many reasons. First of all, reflective artwork is a leitmotif throughout the film as a representation of parallel worlds. Through these works, the film tries to convey the inherent paradox of distorting mirrors: they give us a glimpse of another world, letting us imagine how different things could be, but are still reflections of ourselves, ultimately showing us who we really are.
The Garden of Mirrors
by Bernard Tschumi in Paris |
Ole No. 22
by P. Karjula & M. Vuokola in Helsinki |
Cradle
by Ball-Nogues Studio in Los Angeles |
As you will see below, the artwork slowly emerges out of out of a chaos of white noise and ethereal sound effects. One of the themes of this film is that order comes out of chaos. The white static noise is a representation of randomness and the sounds are a mixture of the following elements:
- The high-pitched tune is the opposite of what noise sounds like - it is one single frequency: 1000hz - and this is the frequency recorded when physicists find a Higgs Boson.
- The pulsating waves are the sounds of gravitational waves in the universe.
- The crackling/popping sounds are reconstructed sounds of neuronal activity.
- And finally, when these sounds dim down and we see the artwork, the ambiance we are left with is NASA reconstructed sounds of space.
Extract No 2 (password: kapoor)
Finally, this artwork is essential for one final reason: this is the turning point of the film. Indeed, the whole film is designed in a mirror-like fashion: the first half of the film presents problems, the second half solutions; and everything either side of the center is in reflection (Acts 2 and 3, Acts 1 and 4, the first and last shot). “Turning the World Upside Down” serves here as the center-point, the mirror in the film’s structure, and therefore a center-piece in the film's visual structure.
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I have been in touch with Roxy Paine and Anish Kapoor (through his representatives ADAGP) and they both support the project and granted me permission to include the artwork. Furthermore, the film showcases a collection of almost 80 works of art and architecture accross the 5 cities, from such artists as Alexander Caldez, Sir Antony Gormley, Eila Hiltunen, Arman, and many more - you can see the full list here. I'm therefore reaching out to you today in the hope you will allow me to include these two artworks in this collection.
Given that the film will encourage people to visit these places themselves, I intend the credits to include a picture of each artwork and its location. In this case, it would look like this:
Given that the film will encourage people to visit these places themselves, I intend the credits to include a picture of each artwork and its location. In this case, it would look like this:
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Turning the World Upside Down
Sir Anish Kapoor The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel www.anishkapoor.com / www.imj.org.il |
The Israel Museum Logo could also be included.
Feel free to contact me for any further information. Thank you for your consideration,
Feel free to contact me for any further information. Thank you for your consideration,