A large metal net hosts a viral crowd, earthenware elements absorb and diffuse transformations, cracked cones tell a story. Cosmologie Virale plunges us into a spectral world from millions of years ago, yet whose history still lingers deep within our flesh. In this blurred zone, where it is no longer possible to grasp where the boundaries of things end, processes intertwine and recount the plasticity of those who live, invisible, with, against, and among us. At a time when we must redefine our human existence on earth, « we must take care of our ways of storytelling, because it is the narrative that makes things intelligible, not the right definition », reminds philosopher Isabelle Stengers (Resisting Disaster, 2019). Here, viruses are extracted from warlike narratives of contamination to assert their political and feminist power, which quietly undermines all forms of domination. Porous interfaces, gathered scents, and metamorphosed sounds inhabit the space like so many sensitive attempts to care for our imaginations.
« A scented water mist represents the cloud, while a Net-Container embodies the host. The cloud lines the net, condenses and then trickles down its length. On the ground, porous earthenware pieces – Placenta – extend this relationship : they absorb, diffuse, and transform the cloud. Each creates an environment for the other within a situated relationship of hospitality. This installation is part of Cosmologie Virale, a project that explores the imaginaries associated with viruses through a process-oriented and relational approach. Deployed in the form of an installation, olfactory and sound devices, and narratives, it engages the body in perceptual experiences.»
is an artist, designer, and tenured professor of design (agrégée de design). A 2023 graduate of the École des Arts Décoratifs (PSL) and trained at the ENS Paris-Saclay as a normalienne, she joined the EnsadLab-PSL laboratory in 2024. Since 2020, she has been developing a research-creation body of work centered on the imaginaries associated with microbes. Through the design of multisensory artistic apparatuses, her PhD project, Affective Contaminations, seeks to question the role of affective experience in the perception of microbial dynamics. Alongside her research, she co-founded the collective La Plaine, a space of fictions where visual artists and researchers collaborate on the creation of performances blending text, image, scenery, and sound production.
