The End of Winter
The End of Winter, 2013–2016
Colour video, sound, 2'40"
The End of Winter is a long take of light emanating from a bonfire at Luxembourg’s traditional end-of-winter Buergbrennen celebration. Held on the first Sunday of Lent, the originally pagan ritual features huge fires lit to symbolically drive away winter and welcome the return of spring. It marks the triumph of warmth over cold, of light over darkness. The video footage was captured in a tracking shot that begins with reflections of the firelight on the ground and ends in the total darkness of the sky. The omnipresent sound is that of an aircraft, recorded during the artist’s trip to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2015; the narration blends autobiography and fiction, recounting the experience of a forced journey that leads to a permanent state of rootlessness.
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The End of Winter, 2013-2016, stills from the film
The End of Winter, 2013-2016, stills from the film
The End of Winter, 2013-2016, stills from the film