about
VEILLÉE D’ARMES
written by Noam Alon
VEILLÉE D’ARMES is a notion describing a sleepless night,
during which one prepares oneself for a delicate action.
Its origins are related to the night before one becomes
a knight, or goes out to the battlefield. During this night,
sleeping time is replaced by a long meditation, dedicated
either to soothing anxiety or improving strategy. The
silent ambiance the night o!ers can, however, evoke both
tranquility and stress. Not sleeping is usually associated
with insomnia, but the VEILLÉE D’ARMES is a voluntary
decision to stay awake, to overcome physical needs and to
endure a mental process aimed at cleansing the mind. This
moment allows for an assessment of past events, and an
anticipation of di!erent eventualities that the future might
bring.
Nathanaëlle Herbelin’s paintings oscillate between the two poles of this very tension: though they seem at first sight to present serene quotidian spaces, something in their quietness implies the existence of hidden entities, voices from the past or even ghosts. The presence of the painter herself as an observer is embedded in her paintings, which adds a layer of a certain voyeurisme. This is not for the sake of pleasure, but more likely as a highly concentrated attempt to investigate the depicted scene in order to reveal a latent layer, unfolded between the daily objects. The paintings gathered for this duo exhibition are all referring to a twilight zone, between light and darkness, resonating with Nietzche’s Night Song: “It is night: alas that I must be light! And thirst for the nocturnal! And loneliness! / It is night: now my longing breaks out of me like a well – I long to speak. / It is night: now all fountains speak more loudly. And my soul too is a fountain.”
Nathanaëlle Herbelin’s paintings oscillate between the two poles of this very tension: though they seem at first sight to present serene quotidian spaces, something in their quietness implies the existence of hidden entities, voices from the past or even ghosts. The presence of the painter herself as an observer is embedded in her paintings, which adds a layer of a certain voyeurisme. This is not for the sake of pleasure, but more likely as a highly concentrated attempt to investigate the depicted scene in order to reveal a latent layer, unfolded between the daily objects. The paintings gathered for this duo exhibition are all referring to a twilight zone, between light and darkness, resonating with Nietzche’s Night Song: “It is night: alas that I must be light! And thirst for the nocturnal! And loneliness! / It is night: now my longing breaks out of me like a well – I long to speak. / It is night: now all fountains speak more loudly. And my soul too is a fountain.”
In contrast to the domestic space, Anne-Charlotte Finel’s
video documents moments of dusk in a liminal location:
the airstrip, between the earth and the sky, a space of
transience where human beings remain anonymous, a
nonplace. Anne-Charlotte insists to find, and then to
direct our sight, towards living creatures that nevertheless
inhabit this peculiar site. Perplexed by the ever-changing
lights and the recurring immense engine noises, the doves,
the crows and even the foxes are engaging in VEILLÉE D’ARMES, neither fully asleep nor fully awake, in between,
preparing for a potential threat or treat to appear. The
somehow grainy visuals, a!ected by the play of colorful
flashing lights, create in like manner this blurry state, in
the seams of daydreaming and of holding onto fleeting
memories.
Nathanaëlle Herbelin and Anne-Charlotte Finel invite us to depart from earthly factual reality towards a hypnotic state, where the possibility to immerse oneself within dimness appears. Instead of formulating clear ideas, we feel as though we are hovering, gazing upon things, preparing to land again soon.
Nathanaëlle Herbelin and Anne-Charlotte Finel invite us to depart from earthly factual reality towards a hypnotic state, where the possibility to immerse oneself within dimness appears. Instead of formulating clear ideas, we feel as though we are hovering, gazing upon things, preparing to land again soon.