Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert: Metamorphic Earth

Over the past few years, Luxembourg duo Gast Bouschet and Nadine Hilbert have developed a multifaceted body of work at the crossroads of several media (video, photography, sound, etc.) and disciplines (visual arts, music, dance).

Metamorphic Earth is a new immersive video installation by the artists whose art focuses on the relationship between mankind and its environment. 

Continuing their visual and theoretical research, they address new theories and studies on the evolution of the planet, such as the philosophical movements of “Speculative Realism” and “Dark Ecology” without actually illustrating them. While they share the rejection of anthropocentrism and the desire to integrate humans into a complex network of universal energy flows, Bouschet and Hilbert set themselves apart by the admitted “savagery” of their work, which seeks more to physically and psychically shake up the audience, rather than to suggest articulated thought or narratives.

For the exhibit at BPS22, the new Pierre Dupont room was completely obscured to accommodate seven immense video projections that cover its walls and floor, immersing the viewers in a whirlwind of animated images. The sequences alternate between visions of geological details shot in desert and wilderness areas and architectural views of global cities. In their moving images, all in black and white, perceptions are blended and reference points continually shift: the infinitely large mixes with the infinitely small; the stable with the unstable; the natural with the cultural; life with death, beginning with end; etc. 

The exhibit thus plunges the viewer into an immersive experience that destabilises perceptual reference points. The experience is even more destabilising as Metamorphic Earth is set to the rhythm of a powerful soundtrack, specially created by American musician Stephen O’Malley, cofounder of drone giants Sunn O))). His massive score further increases the impression of whirling and immersion in an energetic flow of incessant transformations. 

For the last night of the exhibition, on Saturday, January 21, the BPS22 will be converted to host two events connected to Metamorphic Earth: a dance performance by Alkistis Dimech with live music by Kevin Muhlen and Angelo Mangini and a concert by Stephen O’Malley.
New projections by Gast Bouschet and Nadine Hilbert will accompany these performances.