María Silvia Esteve

12. MÖREL X MEP Studio 

CORTEX

Exploring the connection between memory and trauma, CORTEX is an immersive video installation by María Silvia Esteve, shown at MEP Studio, which conjures a labyrinthine forest immersed in a soundscape populated by living organisms.

The starting point for María Silvia Esteve’s forthcoming feature-length hybrid documentary MAILIN—based on the story of Mailin Gobbo, who was sexually abused for fifteen years by the priest at her school—the short film CORTEX evokes the atmosphere of a dreamlike forest, as in the telling of a fairy tale, driven by the quest to recover the memory of a forgotten past.

Imagined as a metaphorical vision of an individual’s subconscious, the installation is conceived as a sacred place where memory is transformed into an active organ that is in constant reflection. The different strata of our subconscious are evoked by a play of light and shadow that generates multiple densities and textures. As the forest is gradually engulfed by a dense red mass, the video installation brings about an ambiguous space which emerges from the contrast between light and darkness.
Through the diffuse presence of image and sound, María Silvia Esteve reproduces a metaphor for our own existential questions, generating a strange, hypnotic feeling that confronts visitors with their own existence. Set in a circular space with no spatial or temporal markers, the installation is conceived as a place without boundaries, highlighted by the use of transparent panels that interrupt the linearity of the location. In this way, the public becomes involved in a sensory space, becoming immersed in the director’s dreamlike, reflective universe.

Edited by Mörel, MEP and Maria Silvia Esteve, the zine captures stills and elements from the video.

About the Artist

María Silvia Esteve is an Argentinian director and producer. Trained in the arts and opera singing, she develops an experimental visual imagery focusing mainly on stories of women led by women. Her films have premiered at Cannes, won the Locarno Prize and been screened at MoMA. Founder and president of the women's audiovisual collective HANA Films, she has also been awarded by the Spanish Association of Cinematographers AEC, before her first feature-length documentary SILVIA had its world premiere at IDFA 2018. Her film CRIATURA , won the Pardino d'oro for best short auteur film at the Locarno Film Festival 2021 and her short film THE SPIRAL was presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes in 2022, was selected for the New Directors/New Films MoMA, as well as the Hong Kong International Film Festival and IDFA. 

Edition of 250
17cmx24cm
36 pages

Published in conjunction with the exhibition:
“CORTEX”
Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris 05.12.2024 - 19.01.2025