2017

Paris

Medellín

What do forests dream of?
July 1 to 29, 2017

Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paris, France
What do forests dream of?

We are entering the forest. The journey is long by the river. We are getting deeper into the waters. Guided by Eduardo Kohn’s book, I came to look for a non-human language through which vegetables, animals and insects communicate with signs, legends, trances and the dream.

We are enchanted by the graciousness of the forest: the glitters of light under the canopies, the coolness of foliage, the symphony of birds, insects, drops of water leaking from big leaves and absorbed by the moss at our feet.

Susana Mejia lives in the Amazonian forest. That is where the Colombian artist has settled her alchemist laboratory. She sweats colors out of plants and prints them on fique paper.

The night is about to fall. Our walk is rocked by the sound of frogs. We light up a fire that timidly sets out of humidity. The forest is a shelter. We find the rest we were longing for. Jean-Yves Leloup’s sound creation reminds us that the voice of the forest never keeps quiet. It unfolds in captivating variations.

The night suddenly falls. The noises become alarming. We are scared, we feel lost in this versatile world. We have to sleep on the lookout. Here, our sleep is always interrupted. Us, humans and non-humans, we dream of each other. A dream continued during daytime.

With François Fleury, on a small boat in the heart of the Amazonia, the water reflects the ballet of branches and creepers. Everything waves tirelessly. The forest is a world which veins, pores and all entangled vertical and horizontal levels call for a speed-up transcendence. Our eyes are twisting in their sockets: our brain sees!

We are the forest. We are a snake. We are a witch turning into a fish and feeding on resin. A fern. A fluorescent mushroom. We are a centenary tree in the arms of which Russian artist Olva Krovtor is wrapped like a plastic chrysalis. We are part of a whole. We cannot get away from it.

Eyes spy on us at nighttime. Laura Huertas Millán takes us in the heart of an artificial forest. She invokes the voices of conquerors from past centuries. The forest is a resilient space that one does not invade. In spite of our desire to take a hold of it, the forest remains free.

Curated by Lucie Touya

Artists: François Fleury, Laura Huertas Millán, Olya Kroytor, Jean-Yves Leloup, Susana Mejia, Kettly Noël, Noémie Goudal.

Press Dossier