FRAC Champagne-Ardenne

The Garden: incantation - incarnation
From April 5th to September 22nd, 2024
Exhibition opening April 4th at 6 p.m.

A sound installation from Uriel Barthélémi, with the participation of Haegue Yang.

Presented by Césaré CNCM/Reims and the FRAC Champagne-Ardenne.

Taking the form of an immersive, multi-sensory installation, the exhibition “The Garden: incantation – incarnation” plunges the public into an imaginary territory, a symbiosis between humans, sound and plants. In this genuine indoor garden designed by Uriel Barthélémi, a harmonious blend of European and exotic plants, and a network of custom-made modular synthesizers are brought together amidst an expansive environment, created through a wallpaper piece by Haegue Yang.

The wallpaper Incantations – Entwinement, Endurance and Extinction (2022) departs from an intriguing overlap of shamanic practices and artistic roles today. Responding to Barthélémi’s main works, Yang suggests how plant worlds and human mind interacts and construct new knowledge, just as the shaman has been a civilizational mediator between mankind and the unknown sacred worlds.

Combining arts (visuals, music) and science (botany, plant biology, musical development and computing), this exhibition presents a research project on translating plant activity into sound in real time.

The encounter between Uriel Barthélémi, French composer and sound artist, and Haegue Yang, Berlin- and Seoul-based artist, is based on three common axes: the relationship between organic elements and artificial objects, the creation of immersive environments through sound and image, and the attempt to make imperceptible phenomena visible.

At the heart of this wondrous garden, musicians with remarkable personalities such as Hélène Breschand, Loya and Gwennaëlle Roulleau will be invited to take over this magical space to perform concerts over a prolonged period of time, offering a several-hour deep dive into a marvellous, timeless world.

Credits
Delegated production : Césaré, Centre national de création musicale de Reims.
Coproduction : FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, La Muse en Circuit, Centre national de création musicale d’Alfortville, Passage Production.
Support : City of Reims Greenhouses, the Plant Biology Laboratory: Induced Resistance and Plant Bioprotection Unit (RIBP) at the
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne.
Partners : Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, Danemark.
Uriel Barthélémi is an artist subsidised by the DRAC Île-de-France. He has a long-term residency at Césaré CNCM/Reims funded by the DRAC Grand Est.

Distribution
Uriel Barthélémi: conception, composition, set design, sound and video programming
Haegue Yang: wallpaper design
Hélène Breschand, Loya, Gwennaëlle Roulleau: musical artists
Soleá Garcia Fons: vocals, recorded voice
Maxime Lance: development
Jonathan Pons and Synththomas: production of the modular synthesizers
Rakoo de Andrade: assistance with the design of the 3D plants