Rire sur un volcan: POUSH, Aubervilliers, France

In her autobiographical story Ma mère rit (My Mother Laughs), the artist and filmmaker Chantal Akerman recounts a daily life marked by illness and falling in love. At a dinner party, she recalls a burst of life that manifests itself as “the need to laugh in the midst of a predicted catastrophe. Laughing on a volcano”. It is from this cry of joy in the face of doom and gloom, this essentially human reflex, that the idea for this exhibition was born. Laughter can be understood as amazement at the power of fire, as a reversal of power, as an absurd posture in the face of our species disproportionate impact on the Earth's systems.

The figure of the volcano conjures up the imaginary of an imminent collapse, a sensual geological aesthetic and the fragility of human time. Like Athanasius Kircher's “central fire” theory, which speculates on the bowels of the globe, Rire sur un Volcan explores the materiality of these raw elements: volcanic rock, sand, clay, coal, limestone concretions and mineral voices. It takes the form of a journey into the depths of a mine, the intensity of a magnetic field, the edge of a crater or contact with a meteorite.

 

With Cécile Beau, Fanny Béguély, Nina Berclaz, Ludwig Berger, Charlotte Charbonnel, Andrew Erdos et Shawn Murrey, Julia Gault, Mihai Grecu, Joana Hadjithomas et Khalil Joreige, Clara Imbert, Pauline Julier, Athanasius Kircher, Atsunobu Kohira, Sabine Mirlesse, Nelson Pernisco, Darta Sidere, Diana Vidrascu, Wiktoria

Curators: Clara Darrason, Andy Rankin, Mahsan Shams, Alice Loumeau and Valentin Bansac (founders of the MATTERS.xyz collective)

 

January 23 to March 15, 2025
Open Fridays and Saturdays, 3-6pm
Free, registration link here

 

Opening January 23, 2025, 6-9pm
With the kind support of Maison Ruinart
Free, registration link here

 

POUSH

153 Avenue Jean Jaurès,
93300 Aubervilliers, France

 

 

 

* This exhibition uses electronic equipment that may interfere with the operation of pacemakers. As a precautionary measure, we strongly advise people with pacemakers not to visit.