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During my first visit to the Domaine des Étangs, I was inspired by the expanse of the ponds, struck by their quality as receptacles, mirrors revealing the world around them. The sky appeared to me as strong as when I travelled to Chile to film the world's largest astronomical mirrors in the world, the VLT, set up in the middle of the Atacama desert. For the exhibition Primordial Waters at the Domaine des Étangs, curated by Claudia Paetzold, I wanted to anchor the Domaine des Étangs as a place for observing the sky. An observation, with the naked eye, to reconnect with the sensitive quality of astronomical observation practised by mankind since the dawn of time. The archaic astronomical mirror moves me, in its simplicity and sensuality. A fine example of these mirrors was created by the Incas in the 15th century. The Incas dug cavities in stone, which once filled with water, acted as mirrors pointing to the stars. I like to oppose this simplicity to the extreme complexity of today’s scientific observatories such as the Super-Kamiokande, which I was lucky enough to visit and with which I am collaborating on a future film project. Located in Japan, the Super-Kamiokande is a Neutrino observatory located in the heart of a mountain. It comprises an immense reservoir of ultra-pure water, covered with photo-sensitive cells capable of capturing the minute rays of light produced by these astronomical particles as they encounter the water. I would like to turn the ponds into observation zones, revealing the Universe that surrounds us, and which is naturally reflected in the water. These primordial waters make complete sense to me, bringing together all these fields at once, which the calm of the Domaine invites us to contemplate. 

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I stand here 

At the edge 

Sky above me 

Sky below

Breathing in the stars 

One after another 

Asking for everything 

Waiting for nothing 

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Tell me, light from the past 

Tell me everything

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I wait here in silence 

Here and nowhere 

Not knowing 

Not willing to know 

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Stories from billions of years ago 

Ripple across the surface 

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Traveling light 

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How far have you come 

To lay here 

On my mirror surface 

Just to touch me 

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I’m made of water and 

My cells mix with your light 

What do you want from me 

I have nothing to give 

I’m only a mirror 

I’ll drink you up 

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Do stars know how to swim 

How long will you stay 

Forever is never enough 

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I’m falling in your image 

My eyes float and 

What I see I believe 

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Why are you here 

Why did you come only to leave again 

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I don’t know you 

How far have you travelled

To lay here 

Your voice is familiar

I can hear it 

Carried to me by the wind 

Landing on my skin 

Making circles 

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Forever reflected 

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Stay, stay until tomorrow 

Forever is never enough 

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• Caroline Corbasson 2023

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JF: Your work explores the micro and macro, seen and unseen realms. With the telescope as your lens, what has it revealed to you about our existence?

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Caroline Corbasson: Projecting ourselves into the infinite spaces of the universe can appear to be a form of escape, a refusal to confront the challenges of our earthly world. To my mind, however, this projection towards that which surpasses us is essential, and makes us more present to our world. I draw an analogy with death: when we accept that it is part of our lives, when we give it a place by meditating on it regularly, I sincerely believe that this enables us to live more fully.

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JF: Mirrored Landscapes draws from the ancient practice of astronomical observation through mirrored pools of water and modern scientific methods such as the Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory and reservoir in Japan. What has your experience with these entities reflected back to you about our own fluidity and metamorphosis as a species? Do you get a sense of life beyond the stars? 

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CC: These experiences gave me a deep intuition that we are not spectators of this world, but part of it, that there are not many forms of life, but that everything is interconnected in a balance of interdependence. The contrast between archaic methods of observation and recent technologies reveals that our quest perpetuates that of our ancestors, connecting us to them. This leap in time shows that we share the same questions, and that the more we sail into the mysteries of the universe, the more new ones emerge. 

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Claudia Paetzold: Contemplating the stars in a body of water reconnects us with the infinite emergence and metamorphosis of life, akin to witnessing the stellar particles in the fluid of our cells. The human genesis is but a reflection of the all evolving universe. 

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JF: During your residency at the Laboratory of Astrophysics in Marseille, scientists were studying dark energy. The fifth element, aether, or - quinta essentia - quintessence - in terms of quantum mechanics, is posited as dark energy. What is your relationship to the aether element?

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CC: For several years now, I have been continually drawn to aether in my research, its mystery, opening up the field of possibilities, summoning the imagination. I have named my daughter Aria, which means air - the terrestrial element most closely related to its celestial counterpart, aether. 

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Image: Mirror Lake by Caroline Corbasson