Le bélier de l'Homme aux loups
The ram of the Wolf Man
sound installation - 2012
At the beginning, there is the wilderness. And because there is the wilderness, there is the wolf.
And because there is the wolf, there is sheep and there is ram.
Because there is ram, there is the shepherd. Because there is the shepherd, there is the man.
And because there is man, there is law, there is the ego and the superego and the id.
And there is that, the dream of the man.
And because there is the dream of the man and the wolf, there is the dream of the Wolf Man.
Because there is the shepherd, the ram and the dream of the Wolf Man, there's The ram of the Wolf Man.
On a pedestal, a ram is in front of a speaker. The ram (plastic toy) is immobile. The speaker broadcasts the voice of a french farmer reading the description of the dream of Sergei Konstantinovich Pankejeff, Freud's patient says "the Wolf Man" :
«J’ai rêvé que c’est la nuit et que je suis couché dans mon lit (le pied de mon lit était contre la fenêtre, devant la fenêtre se trouvait une rangée de vieux noyers ; je sais que c’était l’hiver quand je rêvais, et pendant la nuit). Soudain, la fenêtre s’ouvre d’elle-même et je vois avec un grand effroi que sur le grand noyer devant la fenêtre quelques loups blancs sont assis. Ils étaient au nombre de six ou sept. Les loups étaient tout blancs et avaient plutôt l’air de renards ou de chiens de berger, car ils avaient de grandes queues comme des renards et leurs oreilles étaient pointées comme chez les chiens quand ils guettent quelque chose. En proie à une grande angoisse, celle manifestement d’être dévoré par les loups, je poussai un cri et me réveillai. Ma bonne d'enfants accourut au chevet de mon lit pour voir ce qui m'était arrivé. Un bon moment s'écoula jusqu'à ce que je sois convaincu que ce n'avait été qu'un rêve, tant l'image par la fenêtre qui s'ouvre et des loups qui sont assis sur l'arbre m'était apparue naturelle et nette. Je finis par me calmer, me sentis comme délivré d'un danger et me rendormis (...).»
Sigmund FREUD, L’Homme aux loups, PUF 1990.
"I dreamt that it was night and that I was lying in bed. (My bed stood with its foot towards the window; in front of the window there was a row of old walnut trees. I know it was winter when I had the dream, and night-time.) Suddenly the window opened of its own accord, and I was terrified to see that some white wolves were sitting on the big walnut tree in front of the window. There were six or seven of them. The wolves were quite white, and looked more like foxes or sheep-dogs, for they had big tails like foxes and they had their ears pricked like dogs when they pay attention to something. In great terror, evidently of being eaten up by the wolves, I screamed and woke up. My nurse hurried to my bed, to see what had happened to me. It took quite a long while before I was convinced that it had only been a dream; I had had such a clear and life-like picture of the window opening and the wolves sitting on the tree. At last I grew quieter, felt as though I had escaped from some danger, and went to sleep again (...)."
design, realization and sound design > Arno Fabre
reading > Arno Fabre
production and diffusion > c15d
thanks to Paul de Sorbier and all the team of Maison Salvan for their invitation and confidence.
Le bélier de l'Homme aux loups is produced with the support of Maison Salvan / City of Labège - 2012.