Ruins (season 1)

Posted by admin on Mardi, juin 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment 

The first photographs of Raphaël Dallaporta’s project Ruins, will be presented exclusively for the Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award. Since last autumn, he has been working with a team of archaeologists from the north of Afghanistan. Using an aerial camera system – a special drone – adapted by Dallaporta for the project he has been able to fly over Afghanistan taking pictures of the sites.
“To fight against the air, one must be heavier than air,” stated Nadar, the pioneering French photographer who took the first aerial photographs. In 1863, with the help of Gustave Ponton d’Amércourt, who had invented a prototype helicopter, Nadar founded the Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion through the use of Machines Heavier than the Air. In autumn 2010, Raphaël Dallaporta was flying his modern “machine heavier than the air” – a six-propeller drone – over northern Afghanistan. Then, as it flew over town of Cheshmeh-ye Shafa in the province of Balkh, it disappeared. Caught in a violent crosswind, the drone, equipped with a camera and a video feed, was carried over a rise and out of sight. It continued to fly, however, reaching 500 metres in altitude, until the battery, programmed to slow its descent, was drained. With the help of mission director Roland Besenval and his trusty driver Dawood Khidri, who had watched helplessly as the drone disappeared, a search mission was launched. Posters were printed and distributed in the local area announcing in Dari the date of its disappearance, 9/8/1389 (according to the solar calendar, inherited from pre-Islamic Persian Zoroastrians, used in Afghanistan), and the promise of a reward of 5,000 Afghanis (US$115). Five days later, a policeman called the team and said that an object that looked just like the one in the photograph had been recovered in good condition. The drone was returned after customary negotiations over the reward – the finders finally accepting the advertised price – with its camera still in place. The 208 photographs taken during this exceptional flight were recovered from the memory card and showed unhoped for views of the gorges of the valley of Balkh-AB, a highly strategic pass used by Alexander the Great. (In 327BCE, the Balkh region was immortalized by the Greek conqueror when he married Roxana, the daughter of a local despot.)

Rencontre Arles 2011 / Edition 42
Ruins (Season 1) Prix Découverte 2011
Sam Stourdzé ‘ selection – Grande Halle
Opening Week: July 4th – 10th 
Exhibitions: July 4th – September 18th

www.rencontres-arles.com

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