Sol

video/sound installation
HD 1080p, Pal, color, 5.1 surround sound, 23’00” loop, 2012

The video-sound installation Sol (Salt) was inspired by stories from older generations in Dalmatia about the impoverished gathering of sea salt along the rocky shores of the eastern Adriatic, in crevices and tidal pools. During the dominance of the Dubrovnik and Venetian Republics, the production and trade of salt were strictly controlled, and any collection outside the state monopoly was declared illegal, even when it involved taking salt from the immediate surroundings, as was the case with Dalmatian fishermen and farmers.
Salt is essential to human life, and this connection has been mythically represented in many civilizations. At the same time, salt preserves and embalms, preventing the decay and decomposition of organic matter. For this reason, it was crucial for food preservation: Mediterranean populations owe their historical demographic growth to such practices of salting and storing food. The sun, as a fundamental prerequisite for life, enables the crystallization of salt along the shores through the evaporation of seawater, offering coastal inhabitants a vital ingredient in a modest harvest that reaches back to prehistoric gathering cultures.
The installation is based on video shot on the uninhabited Dalmatian islet of Orud, south of Veli Drvenik, where the inhabitants of Drvenik gathered salt for generations. It consists of a single-channel video loop and a multichannel (5.1) sound composition. The video presents rhythmical sequences of details of collecting the salty crust with a kitchen spoon in a harsh, rocky landscape, accompanied by the sounds of the spoon touching stone and salt, the quiet movement of the subjective camera along the shore, and stop-motion animation of seawater crystallization in the silence of salt sounds.