Renaissance sauvage : la perspective symbiotique

Galerie Jousse Entreprise is pleased to present the group exhibition Renaissance Sauvage: la perspective symbiotique curated by Guillaume Logé. The exhibition will run until January 13, 2024. (closed from December 22, 2023 to January 2, 2024 inclusive).

With Art Orienté Objet (Marion Laval-Jeantet & Benoît Mangin), David Bihanic, Michel Blazy, Clément Borderie, David Christoffel, Edith Dekyndt, Laurent Derobert, Claude Gilli, Jérémy Gobé, Andy Goldsworthy, Victoire Inchauspé, Susan Jacobs, Chloé Jeanne, anne marie maes, Ariane Michel & Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Valérie Mréjen, Luc Petton, Tomás Saraceno, Niccolò de Martinelli, dit il Trometta, Jean-Luc Vilmouth, Yang Zhichao.

Why are we speaking about a new form of perspective in art, six hundred years after linear perspective theories emerged – which paved the way for modernity – during the Renaissance of the 15^th and 16^th centuries? What are the characteristics of this new perspective? In what ways is it intimately tied to the ecological context that we know? What does it say about our era? And what horizons does it open up?

An in-depth answer to these questions can be found in an article that was just published in the online journal La pensée écologique, [1] which has been reprinted and published in a booklet that is available at the gallery.[2]

The context is that of a “Wild Renaissance,” whose first manifestations we are now witnessing. Our book Renaissance sauvage. L’art de Anthropocène (Puf, 2019) describes the genesis and spirit of this Wild Renaissance, and comments on various examples. The “symbiotic perspective” is a form of perspective associated with this possible shift in civilization. Like all perspectives, it bears witness to a certain way of seeing, translating into a method for constructing works. It gives birth to a new space and to new connections. Far from a mere technical term, perspective speaks about the world – perhaps like no other device – about its underlying dynamics and its future.

To put it briefly, the paradigm of a linear perspective (which we might call a “modernist perspective”) is based on a mathematical approach to reality and on adhering to a certain conception of man’s place and power on Earth. The symbiotic perspective changes scientific and philosophical reference frames. Environmental sciences and philosophies nurture it, while simultaneously calling into question the anthropocentrism inherent in modernity. At its most basic level, the symbiotic perspective involves soliciting plural, creative forces in the realization of a work. The individual is no longer at the center, deciding and determining all things, imposing his will on an inert nature. Instead, he seeks ways to collaborate with what he discovers about life and an impetus beyond himself.

The symbiotic perspective touches on the most sensitive ecological questions, among which: how do we see our place and role on Earth? How do we approach and work with the living (or more generally, “the moving”)? How can we understand and listen to nature’s active diversity? How can we welcome and express non-human forms of intelligence and sensitivity? Or even: how can we give voice and presence to those, that for too long, have been condemned to invisibility or disregarded? How can we coexist and build a sustainable future in harmony with all the other beings and entities that inhabit the planet? What’s the difference between collaborating and controlling? How do we obtain the consent and participation of those other-than-us? And so on.

The exhibition explores different variations of the symbiotic perspective within the creations by some twenty artists. Although presented non-chronologically, the exhibition is situated in comparison to the canon of linear perspective through the presence of a drawing by Niccolò Martinelli (known as Il Trometta, c. 1540-1611). The exhibition reminds us that certain 20th-century artists initiated a paradigm shift, notably Claude Gilli (1938-2015) and Jean-Luc Vilmouth (1952-2015) who are shown here.

[1] https://lapenseeecologique.com/la-perspective-symbiotique/#_ftnref77

[2] Guillaume Logé, La perspective symbiotique. Une nouvelle forme de perspective en art, Paris, Galerie Jousse Entreprise, 2023.

Ruinart supported the artists Chloé Jeanne and Jérémy Gobé as part of its patronage program, and commissioned an art piece from Tomás Saraceno in 2021.

Many thanks to artists for the loan of their works. Thanks also to galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou (Pairs), galerie Les filles du Calvaire (Paris), galerie neugerriemschneider (Berlin), galerie Paul Prouté, galerie Art : Concept (Paris), galerie Greta Meert (Bruxelles), galerie Lelong & Co (Paris). 

Vernissage : 18/11/2023 4:00 pm

Curator : Guillaume Logé