M HKA Ensembles

Article, 00:42:39.

Collection: Courtesy of Argos, Brussels .

De Kleuren van de Geest (The Colours of the Mind) was the last film Cornelis made in 1997. Inspired by the exhibition Trance Dance at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp that same year, the film uses the phenomenon of electronic dance music culture as a means to look at the social and spiritual role of self-induced trances in esoteric folk cultures historically. First looking at European paintings depicting pleasure gardens filled with large groups of people engaging in the fervour of Moorish dance, Cornelis then turns to Gnawa, an ancient culture still present in parts of modern-day Morocco. During nights of communal religious celebration, the Gnawa use durational rhythmic music and poetry for leading ecstatic swirling dances that lead to states of spiritual trance. A clairvoyant is typically present that gives readings on the colours and feelings he/she can see in the minds of the participants during such states of consciousness.

The film is interspersed with many short clips of people dancing at rave parties, drawing connections between the two forms of collective dancing to rhythmic music, and the ensuing altered states of consciousness. De Kleuren van de Geest tells us that the desire for such corporeal surrender is an intrinsic part of human nature.