CÉLESTE BOURSIER-MOUGENOT

shapednoise

A lifeguard tower sited north of the pier dissolved into a sea of foam as the evening progressed. Foam cascaded down and along the structure from the roof and collected at the bottom in a lined basin dug into the sand. A physical barrier separated the audience from the foam. The foam was produced according to visual signals that were picked up by four video cameras situated in the adjacent parking lot. The data was translated into signals controlling the amount of foam produced, and stimulated an audio response broadcast in speakers placed within the tower structure. The ambient sound was controlled by the artist throughout the evening. Over the course of the event as the foam accumulated it obscured the lifeguard tower and then subsided; like the tide, it came and went.

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot is trained as both a composer and sculptor; the two artistic traditions are fully synthesized in Boursier-Mougenot’s installations and sculpture. Focusing on chance, nature, architectural and sculptural forms, the work is as much a performance as a static exhibition. Among Boursier-Mougenot’s notable works, natural events, such as the soft landing of a finch on a string instrument, are co-producers of the effect, so that the spectator’s experience unfolds in unexpected ways. Boursier-Mougenot has shown widely in Asia, Europe and the United States and is currently a finalist for France’s prestigious Marcel Duchamp Award. He lives and works in Séte, France.