RIRE SUR UN VOLCAN

LocationPoush
153 Avenue Jean Jaures
93300 Aubervilliers

Dates23 January 2024
15 March 2024

Co-curators Clara Darrason, Mahsan Shams, Alice Loumeau & Valentin Bansac (founders of MATTERS.xyz collective)
Photo credits
Grégory Copitet
Artists
Cécile Beau, Fanny Béguély, Nina Berclaz, Ludwig Berger, Charlotte Charbonnel, Andrew Erdos & Shawn Murrey, Julia Gault, Mihai Grecu, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Clara Imbert, Pauline Julier, Athanasius Kircher, Atsunobu Kohira, Sabine Mirlesse, Nelson Pernisco, Darta Sidere, Diana Vidrascu, Wiktoria
Statement
In her autobiographical memoir My Mother Laughs, artist and film director Chantal Akerman chronicles her daily life plagued by illness and the unraveling of a love story. She recounts that, during dinner, she was struck by a sudden burst of vitality, a “need to laugh in the midst of the impending catastrophe. Laughing on a volcano.” The premise of this exhibition sprouted from this cry of joy in the face of ominous predictions. Laughter is portrayed as a reaction of wonder at the power of fire, a reversal of power dynamics, an absurd stance in light of the disproportionate impact of our species on Earth’s systems. The figure of the volcano conjures up the imagination of an imminent collapse, while also embodying a sensual geological aesthetic and highlighting the fragility of human time. Like Athanasius Kircher’s “central fire” theory, which speculates on the insides of the globe, Laughing on a Volcano explores the materiality of these raw elements: volcanic rock, sand, clay, coal, limestone concretions and mineral voices. It embarks on a journey into the depths of mines, the intensity of a magnetic field, to the edge of a crater, or in contact with a meteorite.