Exhibition of Marie Ouazzani & Nicolas Carrier
La Junqueira Residency
Lisbon, Portugal
2020
A story of a journey in the shadow or a tale of a trip towards sunburn?
The travels Marie Ouazzani and Nicolas Carrier embark on, let it be on the Parisian outer ring road or on a Chinese beach, systematically constitute a pretext for research. Their intended exploration of Lisbon, however, was disrupted: three months of artistic experimentation in foreign territory were turned into an exercise of confinement.
It is quite unique to experience a residency in a period of lockdown - to apprehend a place through Google Earth roaming, then through a window, then to dare to take a few walks, but only in a specific neighborhood, devoid of mankind. But was this really binding for artists who had long persisted in studying territories through inhabitants other than human beings? In the veins of a city, there are many moving entities that attract attention, such as ghosts or plants - which Ouazzani and Carrier have been investigating since their very beginnings, regardless of this time of crisis.
Throughout their stay in Belém, the couple laid out photographs from local archives, stories of plants, piles of branches and recipes on their studio’s walls and tables, all of which bear witness to an in-depth study of the area. They tried to comprehend the local environment and history (in this case, colonial) through a study of vegetation. This approach isn’t new to them, but turns out almost natural, in a state known for bringing down a dictatorship with carnations.
Recently, a video they shot in Brest profiled a palm tree; There it was, the industrial decor that first caught the duo’s attention, reminding them the foggy aesthetics of Antonioni’s Red Desert. When landing in Lisbon, another West European port, they somehow felt a similar affinity and decided, this time, to focus on yuccas. Extra tropical thus became a series of what I would call Unidentified Film Objects.
I watch the yucca’s portrait in a loop, as if stuck in a state of hypnosis. No Monica Vitti on footage, not even a human presence. Against a soundtrack of cars driving loudly over the 25 de Abril Bridge, they address tired yet proud green leaves, they praise the blue sky and reflecting Tagus. Blue, Green - fun fact: it almost was the title of the Red Desert. A planet’s palette on a window screen.
A theme dear to the duo’s heart is revealed: climate change and its consequences, inseparable from a history of globalization and urbanization. Be warned, however, that the words superimposed on this naturalist depiction prove to be misleadingly documentary-like. While the artists’ process is based on picking up samples, browsing through database and taking field walks, the results always unfold in the realm of fiction. They blend historical and biological facts and legends to develop
the myth of a radical transformation of the European climate - its tropicalisation - of which these plants are a symbol.
It seems suddenly absurd to picture yuccas as sources of exploitation or
ornamentation. By zooming in, the artists become botanists and demonstrate plants’ perpetual state of resistance. After all, they do survive tremors. What about the factory in the background? Will it always be standing? It is time to get out of our anthropocentric vision, time to learn from others. Ouazzani and Carrier seed trouble, and fight against sterile thinking to cultivate a new truth.
Their urban drifts also inspire them to explore the art of infusions. Efeito estufa is an ensemble of aromatic compositions available for self-service from thermos containers dispersed in the space. Silver monoliths or totems surrounded by sculptures of twigs, cut branches and bad grass emerging from a cinder block installation, reminiscent of the wastelands, all so present in Lisbon.
Belém, Ajuda or Tejo’s recipes sound like haïkus. Even before sipping, before getting a glimpse of their pale outfit, simply by stating the ingredients, one already grasps nuances of taste. And once the spiced potion is ingested, you may feel the landscapes described within yourself. You may reconnect with a different milieu and the beings that inhabit it. You may heal from a too long presumed division between the natural and the cultural. There is no longer any doubt that we are immersed in a sensitive ecology.
On the walls sparkle Viagem para-sol photography series. Marie Ouazzani and Nicolas Carrier hunted sunscreen and framed glints, somewhat preferring the subliminale reflection of a parked car to the blurry glare of a drifting river. Facing these captured silver sunshades against golden heat I think of J.G. Ballard ’s Crash - the eroticism of metal and glass, the arousal a window can trigger, the excitement provoked by derelict lots as erogenous zones. Wild junk mirroring threats - Still, life.
Again, I recall Giuliana’s sentence in the Red Desert: «There’s something terrible about reality and I don’t know what it is. No one will tell me.»