Still Life

Potatoes, copper, zinc, electric plugs, hifi wire, audio jack cable and pre-amplified speakers, variable dimensions, 2011.

Still Life is an installation that uses a biological reaction, the natural redox on potatoes. Each potato must produce about O.8 volts, the fact of gathering them by zinc/copper connections is for me the illustration of a network in operation.

The electromagnetic communication, at work in this installation, functions with the aim of emitting a sound. This crackling, very subtle sound, similar to that of a radio when navigating between FM stations, is produced by the circulation of ions between the polarities (anodes and cathodes: copper and zinc). This process is found in humans through fatty acid biosynthesis, the mitochondrial respiratory chain and gluconeogenesis. The fact that this process lasts only fifteen hours gives a performative aspect to this installation, which will be shown in an exhibition in the form of a video trace captured during the opening.

The name given to this installation is a positioning in the art world: this citation of the still life style is for me a desire to show living representations and not frozen in a standard format. Moreover, the chemical reaction which is more important than the visual aspect aspires to a scientific realism independent of any subjectivity.