Départ pour Iter, residency, exposition and curator. Area 42, Bruxelles, 2018.

Images from a residency in which I took on the roles of curator and artist; it gave rise to theoretical and practical meetings between artists, philosophers and engineers over a period of two months. The artworks have drawn attention to energy production and in particular research into nuclear fusion: the nuclear fusion experiment center «Iter» located in the south of France at Cadarache was the main object of the research carried out. After the exhibition a catalog was made, bringing together the ten projects on the subject of Iter. Below are the projects in which I have been most involved (curation and scenography of the residence, the carpet installations, four-handed writing, an audiovisual artwork and conference organization).

Conference and meeting space.

Carpet assembly on the ground, 5mx5m. Made as part of the concept map created for the residence.

Flying Worker, Video installation.

This video is the result of a collaboration between a visual artist (Arthur Jules), a circus performer (Aude Cattin) and a filmmaker (Pien van Grinsven). It explores the rhythm of an atomic plant reflected both in its machinery and its workers. Multiple windows show a turning metal ring, evoking the different scales of the machinery that runs tirelessly, day and night. Then the worker appears: a human body that interacts with the wheel, moving at its own pace, floating in the continuous repetition of the metal cogs and wheels.

Arthur Jules

Aude Cattin

Pien van Grinsven

The Masterstroke

Pamphlet.

«The real masterstroke of the scientific project ITER and its planned successors isn’t just to harness fusion to create an electrical energy source which can be industrialised and commercialised, but »

A body of texts describing the challenges of energy production, divided in three segments. It focuses mainly on the centralisation/decentralisation of energy production, providing thoughts and an outline to some key definitions in the current debate.

Arthur Jules et Pierre Mahoudeau

Traduction : Georgie O’Neil

Conférences

All conferences where open to the public and free of charge. They attracted a crowd of artists, both from the residency and from outside, and locals from the city of Brussels.

Plasma physics and nuclear physics.

Lecture by Dimitri Berliner (Master in Physics), where he discussed the basics of understanding nuclear fusion and the role of plasma in projects such as I.T.E.R. or D.E.M.O.

Relationship between geometry and matter.

Lecture by Thomas Saulgrain (artist), who explained his relationship to geometry and matter in his artistic practice.

Azergy, solution for the energy transition.

Videoconference by Jean-Marc Doniat (independent engineer), who has been working on a new system that, according to him, can generate energy without harmful by-effects. His invention is based on the a specific kind of engine and liquid nitrogen, and has not yet come into production.

Project: Tokamak

Videoconference by Cyrille Courte (artist in residency at the ITER atomic plant), where he talked about his journey combining art and science. He shared his experience collaborating with the radio astronomy station in Nancy, his interventions at the Centre de Pompidou and lastly his work as an artist at the I.T.E.R. construction site.