you are warmly invited to a solstice performance
from around 19h30-20h00 until 21h26 (sunset) june 21 2026
44 rue de marechal gallieni trinquetaille arles
bring something lovely to drink and a paper cup
see you there!
domenico
domenico de clario
last things
from 19h30 until sunset 21h26 june 21 2026 (solstice)
saint genest / 44 rue de marechal gallieni / trinquetaille / arles
my brother i am going into the sunflowers now forgive me for not making something endless forgive me for being a green dream a flock of ghosts that never quite unfurled but we have this we have this lost art between us once in the wilds of childhood i found a place in the darkness of the poplars and lay alone looking up through the branches i couldn’t tell if the crows were lost… joseph fasano
*
the idea to once more acknowledge the solstice began with my reading joseph fasano’s poem followed on that may 1 full moon evening by the following dream: there are so many walls stone walls and i am kicking a ball against each one in turn and every time the ball hits the wall something ends so abruptly that it ends for all time with no explanation nothingness follows filled by nothing except endless silence then another ball appears another ending with nothing follows silence stillness nothingness manifests so utterly suddenly with no explanation simply nothingness then somehow yet one more wall appears another ball to kick manifests in the greyness another ending then silent nothingness once more, again and again and again
*
i began to understand something about the abrupt nature of endings after that dream because only then could i accept that after two years i’d soon be leaving arles / the discoveries i have been so privileged to make during this time both about myself and about the wider world have been wondrously revolutionary as well as subtly revealing of many deeper aspects of what i believed i had already known, which of course i hadn’t and still don’t but through this realization i came to learn much about the extent of my ignorance and the ongoing need to regard myself as a beginner even if the passing of years can mistakenly temper that urge just a little / though i wanted to keep this note short lest it become too lengthy a confessional of sorts i find myself once more speaking too much always too much about this self that life so easily overwhelms
*
this year’s summer solstice takes place here in arles at 10h24 on the morning of sunday june 21 / on this longest day of the year we acknowledge that sunlight pervading our part of the world imperceptibly begins to diminish and paradoxically we celebrate both maximum sunlight and the beginning of its return to a minimum presence / on this evening i will sit at the keyboard and simply touch the keys allowing the notes to sound as they must offering you in this way a space in which to consider all that the solstice might imply because as the noise of the world is drowned out by the silence we inherently inhabit before and after life it allows us to more deeply listen to one’s inner sounding / as i have prepared my departure a deep gratitude has pervaded all i feel and tonight as i sit blindfolded at the keyboard i thank each and every single one of you for all i have received through my stay here / for all the unspoken moments of joy and uncertainty / i want to give each of them a voice and a reason for having manifested as i now better understand how significant the celebration of endings can be because as we do so we celebrate both their passing and their coming into new light / this evening’s sunset marks the very final manifestation of this year’s maximum light so i’m most grateful that you have joined me in this celebration of both temporary endings and of all provisional new beginnings
domenico de clario
june 21 2026
a most profound thank you to tony guerrero for welcoming me so completely into arlesian life