Noche Buena

Noche Buena

25’ – Video hd – color – sound 4.1

Visual Effects: Jorge Romo

Sound design: Félix Blume

Edition of 3 + 2 a.p. – 2015

Julien Devaux’s “Noche Buena” is a piece that aims to translate soundscapes into a cinematographic language. Going beyond the limits of the documentary field Devaux creates a soundscape fiction film, in which the narrative is generated by the composition of recognizable sounds that trigger visual images in the audience. Yet the goal is not to make a research about the hearing phenomena, but to open the possibility of experimenting an aesthetic fusion between image, sound and narrative. “Noche Buena” is a piece displayed almost in complete darkness so there’s no physical visual correspondence to the soundscape, yet the arranged sequence and juxtaposition of noises achieves a meaningful and fantastic narrative. This artwork sets limits to what is visible, so the hidden images can come out to the light. The unique life and memory of each person experimenting Julien’s piece, will weave the discernible sounds to create a particular story and a personal landscape. 

Helena Chavez Mac Gregor

In the middle of a silent night barely disturbed by the feeble sound of crickets, the beating of drums rises recalling a Pre Columbian past. Swiftly the church bells ring, as if they were reacting to an ancient threat. Then two distinctive eras in History and two contrasting systems of belief inexorably collide. Suddenly fireworks light up the sky but the festivities become a warzone. The explotion’s radiance illuminates the mountain peaks that surround the town, but just for a second before extinguishing completely. Everything is motionless and peace comes back with the darkness, the crickets can be heard again along with the distant church bells. The sounds of people digging the earth with shovels recall the images of brand new tombs. 

Julien Devaux