Tidal Spill

Date: 2018
Medium: Sculpture series – Ceramic, metal containers, iron(II) sulphate, potassium dichromate, potassium permanganate, silicone rubber, aluminium, refrigerant compressor, tubes, aroma, compressed air

The Center Cannot Hold

Group show

from 20 Jun to 09 Sep 2018
Isabelle Andriessen, Tidal Spill, 2018. Installation view, Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris, 2018. Produced by Lafayette Anticipations, Paris © Pierre Antoine
Contamination is at the heart of Tidal Spill, an installation comprised of several sculptural elements that have gone through different types of treatment, sometimes chemical, sometimes electric.
While one sculpture perspires and oozes, the others oxidize and become covered in crystals that evolve throughout the exhibition. The claimed organicity of these pieces is also present in their shapes which, in certain cases, resemble bone and muscular tissue perhaps made mutant by the surrounding toxicity. Isabelle Andriessen has described the works as ‘zombie sculptures’ with metabolic characteristics and disease-like symptoms. More than simply unhealthy, the artist wishes them to have their own agency and the capacity of choosing the direction of their mutation, without human intervention. The sculptures and chemical solutions are also juxtaposed with various types of debris collected and moulded by the artist. Their appearance reminds us of the philosopher Jane Bennett’s observation that rubbish is nothing less than ‘a pile of living matter … that accumulates’. In this work, the distinction between living and non-living matter is deliberately ambiguous. Under its guise of a tidy apocalypse, Tidal Spill prepares the ground for the emergence of new species which transcend these categories. First institutional presentation in France. Public program: The backstage of production Sunday, June 24, 4 PM The artist in conversation with Hicham Khalidi (curator) & Dirk Meylaerts (head of production)
Isabelle Andriessen, <i>Tidal Spill</i>, 2018. Installation view, Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris, 2018. Produced by Lafayette Anticipations, Paris
Isabelle Andriessen, Tidal Spill, 2018. Installation view, Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris, 2018. Produced by Lafayette Anticipations, Paris © Pierre Antoine
Isabelle Andriessen, View of a work in production for Le centre ne peut tenir, 2018.
Isabelle Andriessen, View of a work in production for Le centre ne peut tenir, 2018 © Isabelle Andriessen
Isabelle Andriessen, View of a work in production for Le centre ne peut tenir, 2018.
Isabelle Andriessen, View of a work in production for Le centre ne peut tenir, 2018 © Isabelle Andriessen
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