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Become Ocean

Miguel C. Tavares

A landscape in the mist.


Titled after a John Luther Adams' composition, "Become Ocean" is a short film by Miguel C. Tavares, commissioned by Walk&Talk, an annual festival that takes place on the Azores island, for its 2016 edition. The two works of art share the same feeling: both John Luther Adams' composition (which was also notably commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and can be listened here) and Tavares' film are a play of atmosphere and sound, of rhythm and tension; these are soundscapes for a land we barely see, engulfed by the mist.

But what does the expression become ocean really mean? The inspiration comes from a John Cage's quote: "Life on this earth first emerged from the sea. As the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean".
"Become Ocean" is a film about memory of a place and a time, about the idea of isolation and the sea's omnipresence, an exploration between what's temporary and what's permanent and that takes us to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Set on the island of São Miguel, the film explores the bond between this little island and the immensity of the ocean, telling the tale (through the use of the voice over) of the ones who left and the ones who stayed, about the urge of sailing away and the ferocity of the Atlantic weather. It a poem written for a place.

The film was shot for a specific project, called "Two Manifolds" and designed by Nuno Pimenta, for the 2016 Walk&Talk festival: the installation is an observation point, made of wood and concrete, from which it is possible to watch the tides, the boats, the sun glaring through the ocean's mist.
"Becoming Ocean" thus become a luminous example of an architecture film, a daring project that captures the sense and the inspiration behind an installation, making the ephemeral ethernal.

(Story by Sara Marzullo, The Architecture Player)

Credits

Architect: Nuno Pimenta
Mentioned project: Two Manifolds (2016)
Project location: São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Color correction: Rui Manuel Vieira
Music: José Alberto Gomes
Text: Raquel S.
Voice over: Joana Carvalho
Graphics: Marta Ramos

Portugal 2017
Duration: 6'34"