During her artist residency in Sète, France, Isidora Krstić filmed the surrounding with an intention to generate the vision of a utopic landscape (Arcadia). A dissonance is created when the intentionally idealised images are juxtaposed with an ominous sound – slowed down background noise – emphasising the nature of filmed footage as an artefact of the past. The fragmented video alludes to the artist’s inability to immerse herself in the present moment due to her own interfering memories, fears and projections. The video is a document of the pursuit of safety and comfort, or the lack of it thereof, where the format and experience of the residency, becomes both the subject and method of the work.

The work was created within the A.T.E.N.A. residency for female artists organised by Lise Chevalier throughout 2018 and 2019.

The work was premiered within the exhibition “This is the Girl” at Chapelle du Quartier Haut, Sète, running from 12 October – 10 November 2019, and also features the works of Lucia Bricco, Lise Chevalier, Keiko Kimoto, Federica Peyrolo, Marie Strauss and Mirjam Gurtner .

*for an optimal experience, ideally use headphones for viewing the video or speakers able to register low frequencies.

Exhibition view of video installation Arcadia (2019), wooden construction, projection, sound. Chapelle du Quartier Haut in Sète, France (12 October – 10 November 2019):