Étienne Kawczak-Wirz

Film

La Colère de Dario (Dario’s Wrath) tells the story of a delivery driver in a near future in which artificial intelligence holds sway, a man plagued by visions, a kind of mental flight that is eating away at his hold on reality. When he decides to deviate from the route imposed on him by his vehicle, he ventures off the beaten track into increasingly personal landscapes. This film explores themes of technological alienation, disobedience as an act of survival, and a return to a wilder, more creative essence.

“The work began in the autumn of 2023, after a summer when I had carried out a series of solo cave explorations in an area stretching from the Doubs to the southern tip of the Vercors massif. It’s an activity I do on my own, with as little equipment as possible, depending on the level of accessibility. I go in and out without leaving a trace. Most of the caves are prehistoric, and are not open to the public. For me, the notion of risk is inseparable from this practice. I go there to find the essence, the silence, the primitive rock and the implacable absence of light. Getting out into nature and into these caves gives me a break from the city, where I live, away from superficiality, over-stimulation by sound and the omnipresence of technology. In a cave, there’s no network, so there’s no tracking, so you disappear from the radar screen.”

Étienne Kawczak-Wirz

Étienne Kawczak-Wirz is a French artist and composer. He has developed a resolutely multidisciplinary practice, which for the past three years has focused more specifically on 3D animation and music. In films such as *Bedroom*, *Noise* and *Désolation Verte*, he turns mental architectures into penetrable spaces, reflections of a disturbing dream world where figures that seem to be in a state of survival come together. In 2023, he released *Zone Minor Modification*, an EP of hybrid sounds nourished by ancient and contemporary references, at the crossroads of organic essences and electronics.

Production

Credits