A shifting seaside landscape to observe from a new perspective.
Installation It is true both that the world is what we see and that, nevertheless, we must learn to see it anew. 1 Solène Ortoli’s installations house scenographies without characters, inviting viewers to move along the subtle boundary between reality and fiction. These environments, most often presented in natural spaces, allow us to confront the mechanisms of our perceptions and the presence of illusory images that shape our relationship with the world. The artist’s first installation, Réflexion d’un collectionneur, created in 2015, presented, within an entirely reconstructed wild garden, a structure of white walls reproducing the codes of the art gallery. Fictitious openings on the surface of the walls seemed to offer a view onto lush vegetation similar to that in the paintings of Douanier Rousseau. Only after exploring the whole installation more closely did visitors realize that this composition relied on a system of mirrors reflecting the plants at their feet. Following this first experience, Solène Ortoli wanted to further develop this device, capable of triggering a shift from a familiar space into another kind of space. The installation Ciel, la Mer offers the experience of an inverted scenario by bringing the public in through the backstage of the composition. The structure guides the gaze toward an unexpected viewpoint: that of a moving seascape. This archetypal image, both real and impossible, comes to life through the combination of the elements that make up the device and converge on the surface of an inclined mirror. Panels of parachute-canvas fabric in varying intensities of blue cover the upper part of the structure, are reflected in the water of the basin, and transform into a sea of different gradients (...), while the pale sand covering the ground traces a horizon line and forms the sky. Through a simple repurposing of natural elements, the work deconstructs the viewer’s perceptual habits, allowing them to observe the shifting seaside landscape from a new perspective. It then seems possible, in the heart of a garden, to rediscover the slope of a rocky coast, the horizon line, the gradual change of light. This distancing becomes an opportunity for reversal and for a new possibility of seeing. Text by Livia Parmantier. 1 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Le Visible et l’Invisible, Paris, Gallimard, 1964. A sound creation was created by Robin Frolet, specially conceived for the project. In partnership with: Esil events / Signarama / Nidaplast / Remake_reemploi /Jardiprotec / Ciné Loc / Leroy Merlin / Transparences Paris
Source: paris.fr — photo: © Solène Ortoli - front view of the installation