Bourses BLCG 2021
Exhibition at Centre d’art Contemporain in Geneva

The proposal for this exhibition includes a series of papier-mâché casts of pieces of school furniture repainted in trompe-l’oeil, accompanied by a rap (which I wrote and sang to a beat made by Panick Ionesco), as well as two large-scale drawings.

When I used to work as a visual arts teacher in schools, I became very aware of the role of school furniture as a regulator of the relationship between body and space: in the context of the classroom,
the arrangement of the chairs and tables says a lot about the power structures: if they are arranged in rows and separated from each other, it will be more difficult for students to talk together, whereas if arranged in a circle, they will facilitate communication.

The ways in which students reappropriated them by engraving them, drawing and sticking stickers on them testified of a tension present in this institutional framework, that I feel is not far from the carnival inversion. They are accompanied by a rap song about a bad work experience I had where I was unjustly fired from a teaching position in a private school.

Two large drawings hung on the wall accompany them with their colorful and grating universe, one representing characters indulging in a party that seems generous and comical at first glance, but turns out to be empty and and absurd: the glasses and plates are empty, the banner is meaningless, and the whole is framed by two disturbing figures on both sides of the painting. The second one represents flying animals in paradise, but on closer inspection they reveal themselves to be stuffed animals, inspired by amateur images found on the internet.

Candy Island
Solo show at Halle Nord, Geneva

«Candy Island» is an installation I made for Halle Nord, an art center in Geneva. It offered an immersive experience to the public by letting them discover its colored interior of stained glass windows made out of sugar, backlit by neon
lights in the manner of a light box.

The shape of the construction and the landscape represented by the stained
glass windows were inspired by the Rousseau Island, located near the MontBlanc bridge in Geneva. This island is an in-between space : a «natural» haven of peace with its trees and birds, but disturbed by the large luminous signs, stores and cars which circulate incessantly on the Mont-Blanc bridge. It is also an emblematic place in Geneva, which owes its existence to the fortification of the city’s lake entrance five centuries ago.

These elements were treated through the following choices of materials: the Isomalt sugar that looks like glass, combined with neon lights that imitate the light of day, giving an impression of natural light even though the installation is in fact a big light box. Together they create a feeling of illusion and disorientation in a space that represents a «natural» landscape, illustrating the harmony of the island, but also bringing to mind popular
tales like Hänsel and Gretel.