Faint Equilibrium / La beauté pérenne

living cells sculpture installation, 2017-2018

"La beauté pérenne", seen in daylight


"La beauté pérenne", as displayed as an installation artwork, under artificial lights


“La beauté pérenne” (the perennial beauty), is a living sculpture, a daisy (Bellis perennis) exposed to a minuscule amount of a representative product of our modern relationship to nature: a herbicide. The herbicide, designed to suppress spontaneity and natural diversity, is indeed a symbol of the relationship of domination that modern man has with Nature, non-humans, but also with other humans.

The daisy cells once exposed to this herbicide start acting individually, multiply erratically, mutate and gradually forget the original blueprints of the plant, transforming it into an abstract version, a monster that can only live under the aseptic conditions of its hermetic container.

Even its vegetal nature became a thing of the past, the cells aren’t photosynthetic anymore, explaining the absence of green color, they only live and reproduce by consuming the ex-haustible resources of their culture medium. Unlike its latin name suggest, the beauty can't last forever. From the natural beauty of the daisy emerged an artificial monster ... in the image of its creator?

"La beauté pérenne" is a part of the “Faint Equilibrium” project, which was realized in partnership with La Fabrique de la réalité, Empire Géométrique, Université de Caen, IUT de Génie Biologique, Fabrique APEFIM, and La Salle de l'Esprit et du Temps. "La beauté pérenne" was showcased for NATUREL/ARTIFICIEL exhibition, september 2018, at Le Sepulcre, CAEN. New partnerships are welcomed for future developments and exhibitions.