Roi Soleil
Audiovisual installation
Albert Serra, Spain, Portugal 2018, 61′
Curator’s support: Kama Wróbel
Roi Soleil is the latest art piece of Albert Serra, which is a direct consequence of the Death of Louis XIV (2016). The Catalan director undertook extensive audiovisual activities combining elements of cinematography, performance and artistic installation. This unusual composition will have its Polish premiere on 26th of July in the OP ENHEIM gallery as part of the 19th International Film Festival New Horizons.
In 2016, Albert Serra introduced his vision of the Death of Louis XIV. Now, in Roi Soleil, he brings the ruler back to life, placing him in the minimalist interior of the art gallery, filled with intense red neon light. In this space, we see a monarch who suffers alone in France.
The figure of the Sun King is played by Lluís Serrat Massanellas, who, thanks to his characteristic appearance, performs very convincingly in this role. The body of the suffering king – dressed in a wig and embroidered caftan, crawling on the floor, huddled against the walls – transforms into an artistic object assigned to the ascetic space of the gallery. Ludwika’s agony is entertaining once, sometimes it impresses. There is no place for fear here. Does Serrat moan, because – being a king – he dies, or because he is straitened by a jerkin, drinking tights, and a big wig warms up his head mercilessly? The director leads the viewer to a certain immersion in the scene presented. Roi Soleil combines the elements of cinematography, performance and artistic installations, permeating each other both in the process of creating the work and its exhibition. The film won the Grand Prix of the Marseille FID documentary festival. He was shown in world-class galleries, including at Tate Modern in London and Antoni Tàpies Foundation.
– Serra’s Cinema is (…) reaching for primalources, the manifestation of the most conservative avant-garde – with its minimalism, antipsychology and the use of cultural archetypes, which replace the plot of events. – writes Rafał Syska in Film neomodernizmie.
Serra is an ironic moralist who portrays and parodies the pillars of European civilization. He is described as one of the most expressive representatives of slow cinema. Smoothly moves between the cinema and the visual arts area, hence, among others multi-dimensional artistic project Roi Soleil. He is the author of m.in. Honor of the Knight (2006), Singing of birds (2008), History of my death (2013) or Death of Louis XIV (2017).
Created by Dr Bloom, the floral composition in its character reflects the spirit of the era, bringing to mind the vanitas theme or the symbolism of still lifes, which, combined with passing away, perfectly fit into the story of the dying king.The Polish premiere of this unusual project will take place in the OP ENHEIM gallery at Plac Solny 4. The event accompanies the 19th International Film Festival New Horizons. Roi Soleil in the OP ENHEIM gallery will be open from 26th of July to 4th of August.
We invite you to read the full information about the retrospective of Albert Serra, part of the 19 program of the New Horizons International Film Festival: LINK.
OP ENHEIM Gallery, I p.
26th of July – 4th of August, 2019
