Scientific perspectives on contemporary art
From February 15 to May 18 at MO.CO, the exhibition Eprouver l'inconnu (Experiencing the Unknown) brings together scientists from the University of Montpellier and contemporary artists around a hundred works and pieces from the UM's scientific collections. Tour with Gérald Chanques, Vice President for Historical Heritage and coordinator of the scientific committee that oversaw the creation of this event.
"What makes this exhibition unique is that it involved work and analysis of the artworks by the scientific community. Around fifteenProfessors researchers wrote labels to describe what they saw," explains Gérald Chanques, Vice President for Historical Heritage at the University of Montpellier and member of the exhibition's scientific committee, who, together with Agnès Fichard-Carroll, Vice President for Education, brought the scientists and the artworks together.
Venus and the Turtle
The vice president, who is also an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician, was himself tempted by the exercise, commenting on the highly organic work by German sculptor Kiki Smith entitled Digestive System. But also her Virgin Mary, a female figure stripped of her skin, echoing the famous ambassador of the anatomy conservatory of the Faculty of Medicine, "the historical starting point of the union between Art and Science." In another room, where the gynoid shape of a turtle's brain is strangely reminiscent of Paleolithic Venuses, narrative medicine professor and general practitioner Marie-Catherine Reboul and artist Haena Yoo continue this feminist reflection by questioning "anti-aging medicine with calibrated ideals."
While the link between femininity and the sea is a cliché in poetry, performer Joey Holder and researcher Benoît Charlot from the Institute of Electronics and Systems offer us a very different vision of the ocean depths. In this piece, where oscillators and screens are stacked up, strange aquatic chimeras, created by artificial intelligence, emerge from underwater fumaroles to question us about post-humanism: "What could life be like outside the environments we know? Are there other forms of life besides those based on carbon chemistry?"
Choreography of an insect with an orchid
And what would life be without the plant kingdom, which four artists from Slovenia, Taiwan, and Greece draw our attention to? They have designed sex toys and other "gadgets to solve some of their everyday problems, such as seduction or the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases," explains John De Vos, a doctor of embryology and histology and director of the Jardin des Plantes. In this exhibition, he also presents a delicately sensual display highlighting the "copulatory choreography of an insect with an orchid" by artist Roy Kohnke in his latest project, Magnetic Tendencies.
As they move through the rooms, visitors will also encounterISEM paleontologist Pierre-Olivier Antoine, commentator on the works of the great Bernard Palissy, a 16th-century ceramist who was the first to understand that fossils were animal and plant remains; LUPM astrophysicist Vincent Guillet, whose eyes shine only for the suspended sun dust of Korean artist Yunchul Kim. The art brut of Lubos Plny, enhanced by the text of physician Naïs Herbreteau. Or ethnopharmacologist Julien Antih and pharmacy mediator Alexandra Strelcova, who shed light on the shamanic-inspired works of Salvadoran artist and healer Guadalupe Maravilla with their knowledge, while non-drug therapy specialist Gregory Ninot questions the work of Swiss artist Emma Kunz: "healing powder or snake oil?"
Banish all waste of strength and energy
Among the many pieces from UM's scientific collections featured in the exhibition, Louis Auzoux's papier-mâché educational models, preserved by the Faculty of Education, recur as a leitmotif. Also on display are anatomical plates from the Faculty of Medicine and a few specimens from the Faculty of Science's ornithological collection, presented by UM curator, registrar, and heritage collection manager Véronique Bourgade, Marie-Angeline Pinail, and Audrey Théron.
Finally, there is the sensuality of a scent in the folds of skin of a loved one, which teacher and researcher Isabelle Parrot-Smietana captures in perfume on Morgan Courtois' portrait sculptures. Or the unexpected poetry of Isabelle Laffont, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, when her gaze lingers onThe One-Legged Man by Polish artist and camp survivor Alina Szapocznikow. "This emotion of the scientist is there, palpable throughout the exhibition," concludes Gérald Chanques. Professor of physiology Stephan Matecki expresses it very well when he comments on the imaginary world of Kinke Kooi. He reminds us that if we pay close attention to this absolute beauty, "ifwe delicately scratch the surface to penetrate it, we can then see a kind of universal harmony governed by laws based on balances that banish any waste of strength and energy, and that only human intervention can threaten."
