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The exhibition
In the exhibition Paradigme perpendiculaire Angela Bulloch works with the poetry of space to offer a sensory experience requiring us to engage our senses, be attentive and alert, and invites us to reflect on the flexible nature of our thoughts.
Through sculpture, installation and digital creation, Angela Bulloch draws on the heritage of conceptual art that emerged in the 1960s, while drawing on digital technologies and automated systems to create a sensitive work. In this way, everyone is invited to enter the heart of dynamic propositions, and experience their own perception.
The exhibition Paradigme perpendiculaire brings a night sky together with a forest of sculptures alongside imaginary characters navigating a virtual world. The title's combination of the two terms “Perpendicular Paradigm”, invites us to challenge our convictions. The term “Paradigm” refers to a body of knowledge on which we draw when we try to understand our surroundings. “Perpendicular” describes things that are upright against a horizontal plane, such as humans standing at a 90 degree angle to the ground or sculptures on a floor. For Angela Bulloch, combining these two words invites us to reflect on the subjectivity of our point of view from which we observe and look in order to understand the past, the present, and to imagine the future.
View of the exhibition Angela Bulloch. Paradigme perpendiculaire presented from May 13 to August 30, 2022. Musée d'arts de Nantes, photo. Photo: C. Clos A sensitive experience: Firmamental Square
Since 2007, Angela Bullochhas been designing works using the relative positions of stars captured to produce a mapped out representation of the night sky from a particular place in the universe at a particular moment in time. The artist creates an artificial image of the cosmos with software which is frequently used by planetariums to study the solar system.
Firmamental Square was created especially for the Musée d’arts' Atrium. The installation reproduces the starry sky of the summer solstice on 21 June 2021 in Nantes, to coincide with the period for which the exhibition was originally scheduled. The artist is now looking back with hindsight at a date which was projected in the future at that time.Geometric constellation
The Atrium, is populated by geometric sculptures made of wood, metal or synthetic marble. Their names refer to mythical, or legendary figures relating to the origins of our western civilisations.Although some sculptures are painted, others are programmed so that the light varies and modifies perceptions of space. Changes in points of view create the illusion of flat surfaces and volumes shifting positions. This impression is reinforced by paintings on the Arcade walls. These silhouettes echo the shadows of the sculptures’ facades.
Sound, light and color
For the exhibition, Angela Bulloch has produced a two channel video animation modelling the Atrium and Arcade spaces in 3D. Perpendicular Paradigm is both the title of the exhibition and the title of that video work, showing a slice of a meta-reality, the exhibition within the exhibition, a situation within a situation.
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Angela Bulloch
Biography
Angela Bulloch was born in Rainy River, Ontario (Canada) in 1966 and moved to Britain in 1977. In 1985, she studied art at Goldsmiths College, University of London. At the time, this school encouraged artists to explore new forms of creativity, breaking down the barriers between painting, sculpture and sound. Art critics quickly associated Bulloch with the group known as the Young British Artists, whose members were also graduates of Goldsmiths College. Her works revisit the geometric and serial vocabulary inherited from the conceptual and minimal art of the 1960s. Bulloch has developed her own aesthetics using new technologies and creates installations featuring electronic programming. The artist incorporates light, sound and video into them. In the 2000s, her multimedia practice focused on changing the rules of abstract geometric art through the introduction of elements from popular culture.Bulloch began her Night Sky series in 2007, capturing constellations into starry skies of LED lights. Since 2014, she has been creating sculptures from coloured polyhedrons which the viewers perceives differently as they move around them.
Angela Bulloch in Nantes
In the Chapelle de l'Oratoire, you can also discover, as an extension to the exhibition, the work Disco Floor_Bootleg: 16 Nouvelle fenêtre (2002), part of the Musée d'arts collection.
On the Île de Nantes, you'll find The Zebra Crossing - Regulations and General Directions New WindowThe Zebra Crossing was created by Angela Bulloch in 2009 as part of Parcours Estuaire. The work consists of a typically British crosswalk, made up of Belisha beacons (black and white posts topped by a luminous orange globe), recontextualized in the urban space of Nantes. The flashing globes were programmed according to a rhythm determined by the artist, creating a disruption in the usual organization of public space. In this way, the experience becomes the central point of the artistic statement, revealing our relationship with works of art. -
In photos
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On video
At the heart of the exhibition with the artist
From the starry sky of Firmamental Square to Speaker Module: Emerald, and including her videos, sounds, lights and colors... artist Angela Bulloch herself presents the exhibition Paradigme perpendiculaire.
At the heart of the exhibition with visitors
With Angela Bulloch, the Patio is immersed in a starry, luminous atmosphere. Find out how the first visitors experienced their immersion in this special, enveloping and poetic atmosphere.
Women artists
The exhibition Angela Bulloch. Paradigme perpendiculaire is an opportunity to discover this new episode devoted to the Canadian artist.
On March 8, 2021, to mark International Women's Rights Day, the Musée d'arts was releasing five episodes to get to know several of the women artists exhibited in its galleries.
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Art workshop
To do at home: an art workshop for young and old around the exhibition Angela Bulloch. Perpendicular paradigm.
Planetarium workshop
Or how to build a star observatory?
Since 2007, Angela Bulloch has been creating works composed of luminous dots representing portions of the celestial vault. Using computer software commonly used by planetariums to study the solar system, the artist creates an artificial image of the cosmos. Firmamental Square, created especially for the Musée d'arts, reproduces the starry night of the summer solstice on June 21, 2021, in Nantes, the exhibition period initially envisaged. The artist now takes a retrospective look at a date that was then projected into the future.
Create your own star observatory, just like Angela Bulloch!
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Exhibition catalog
Catalog cover for the exhibition Angela Bulloch. Paradigme perpendiculaire presented from May 13 to August 30, 2022. Musée d'arts de Nantes, photo. Photo: C. Clos Catalog published for the exhibition Angela Bulloch. Paradigme perpendicualire, presented at the museum from May 13 to August 30, 2022.
Available for consultation at the museum library and on sale at the museum bookshop-boutique.
General curator:
Sophie Lévy, curatorial director of the Musée d'arts de Nantes.
Scientific curator:
Katell Jaffrès, head of contemporary art collections at the Musée d'arts de Nantes.
The museum would like to thank L'État - Ministère de la Culture - DRAC des Pays de la Loire for subsidizing the exhibition.
The exhibition is part of the Voyage à Nantes, for which the museum is very grateful.
The museum would also like to thank the Nantes Planetarium, which enables the Musée d'Arts to offer original programming.