Deneb Martos. Gold Film

Deneb Martos (Madrid, 1975) is a visual artist specialising in cameraless photography and eco-sustainable photochemical techniques.

Her piece GOLD FILM is at once a sculpture, an installation, a film, and a performance. Gold, due to its physical properties, is opaque to light: it shines because it reflects light, yet light cannot pass through it. Moving between phantasmagoria and alchemy, Martos explores these very qualities of gold — a material that symbolically carries both positive and negative connotations.

Working directly on celluloid with fine sheets of gold, she has created a monumental structure that allows viewers to see the effects of the material as it passes through a 35mm projector. The result is a spectacular mise-en-scène in which experimental musician Wade Matthews performs a live improvisation. Martos’ own body and gestures also play an essential role, transforming the relationship between the artwork, the projection space — in this case, the majestic church of Kunsthal Gent — and the audience, who are invited to move freely and experience the work from multiple perspectives.