Many onlookers and art lovers crowded around Fort Louis in Marigot last weekend to attend the illumination project entitled Ethno Spirits, signed by artist David Gumbs.
Inaugurated last Friday evening at the Saint-Martin Tourist Office kiosk, the original Ethno Spirits projection illuminated the historic monument surrounding it with a singular aura. In the presence of Valérie Damaseau, president of the Tourist Office, Fabien Sésé, secretary general of the prefecture, Nathalie Gonthier, representative of the Department of Cultural Affairs of Guadeloupe (DAC) and Dominique Démocrite Louisy, 3rd vice-president of the Community, the multi-talented artist David Gumbs, the only Saint-Martin resident among the 264 winners selected nationally, presented his project for the illumination of Fort Louis in Marigot, which required eight months of preparation and digital creations: "To create this twenty-minute light loop delivered by two hundred LED bars from Martinique, I filmed the movement of Saint-Martin butterflies, the pierides, using the video tracking system, which I then slowed down in order to generate other graphic shapes used for animations”. The artist then added six sounds combining drums and traditional rhythms which were synchronized with the luminous loop which could be admired visually and by hearing during three evenings, March 10, 11 and 12. For the artist, the link between nature and its creation was essential: "It was obvious for me to rally the human sciences and the communion of spirits while taking elements from nature, hence the name of Ethno Spirits ". Accustomed to making artistic installations in museums, David Gumbs brilliantly took up the challenge of illuminating with 200 LED lamps, forty of which are two meters long, a historic building as large as Fort Louis de Marigot. Winner in Martinique and Saint-Martin after being selected from among 3.000 artists, David Gumbs carried out his Ethno Spirits project thanks to funding from the Ministry of Culture and Communication for a maximum amount of €40.000. The show combining sound and light, as impressive from a distance as from close to the historic monument, was admired and warmly congratulated by the public present. The emotional charge of such a one-of-a-kind screening was palpable. The immense talent of David Gumbs has, once again, crossed the borders of the territory, to better return to Saint-Martin. Unforgettable. _Vx
https://faxinfo.fr/en/culture-le-fort-louis-sest-pare-de-mille-couleurs/
