What do a departure from binary thinking, the search for an atomic secret, and a decaying work of art have in common? All three take contradictory demands and desires propagated by society as starting points to rethink the relationship between the human body and its environment: an ecology of relationships we must reinvent.
Pippa Garner, Adelhyd van Bender, Claire Pentecost: Three artists’ individual presentations will coexist within the premises of 49 Nord 6 Est on this exceptional occasion. Pippa Garner is an inventor, photographer, and performer. She diverts / redirects whatever she sees and whatever she uses, rejecting readymade categories – including those related to gender. Having embarked on a quest for an atomic formula potentially nested within his own body, Adelhyd van Bender stubbornly produced works on paper in an inquiry that blends an ecological threat and irrationality. As for Claire Pentecost, she has composted an American flag, initiating a process of degradation in which the soil feeds on a symbol. This fragile work from the Frac’s collection was studied for a year at the Institut National du Patrimoine; the accompanying research is presented alongside the piece, placing it in a new light.
These works explore thresholds, at the junction between invention and rejection of consumer society (P. Garner), between body and chemical formula (A. van Bender), between earth and nation (C. Pentecost). All of them open unexpected perspectives. In a society based on the cult of innovation, they question with humor – and at times self-deprecation – the means at our disposal to build a future.
