/ interf ∆ ce(s) /
Tales of Babel
With: Marion Andrieu, Yann Gerstberger and Zora Mann

The exhibition / interf ∆ ce(s) / springs from the desire to bring together the works of Marion Andrieu, Yann Gerstberger and Zora Mann. Specifically tailored to their practices, the exhibition explores the associations between the works, where they share common ground and how they contrast one another, and touches on the ways in which they echo current societal issues.

The artists utilize a vast number of signs and references in their works, which they juxtapose and combine with no apparent hierarchy. Be it graphic or sculptural details, these elements are reduced to acting as silent signifiers. They are brought to the same level, flattened in a way that reflects «our current relationship with cultural produc­tions» [1] , in which the use of the Internet and digital devices has become widespread. As the contact point of these disparate elements, the works operate as interfaces.

In Zora Mann’s paintings and engravings, signs are brought to the limits of abstraction. Chosen by the artist for the atmosphere they evoke rather than for their signification, they create hallucinatory and obsessive scenarios. In Yann Gerstberger’s pieces, signs intermix within psychedelic compositions. Marion Andrieu’s works directly refer to the notions of interface and « flattened reality». They fuse references from various horizons into sculptures that evoke cult objects or religious items.

These three artists are part of a generation for which the interlinking of art and ethnology, as well as the perspec­tives opened by global exhibitions such as Magiciens de la terre (1989), have long been established. Sharing a fondness for cultural crossings, they do not hesitate to search for inspiration in artefacts from foreign cultures or ancient societies, and in folk art. Rather than aiming at a sterilized or tech­nological aesthetic, they play with anachronisms and connect distinctive aspects of our post—digital age—its consump­tion, mass production and dot.com frenzy—with those of non-Western traditional cultures. The totems, shields and vases that appear in their works are endowed with ritual aspects and direct the exhibition towards a world populated with magical beliefs.

[1] Text on Yann Gerstberger’s work, François Aubart, 2012