the splash room - camille tsvetoukhine

Camille Tsvetoukhine
Portfolio 2016
Camille Tsvetoukhine
live and work in Paris (FR).
born in 1987.
http://www.draw-it.fr/
http://idealfruhstuck.tumblr.com/
[email protected]
2016
2015
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2017
2016
2015
2013
2013
2010
2008
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Une vitrine, une artiste, Gallery Natalie Seroussi, Paris, Fr.
The Splash Room, curated by Veronica Valentini, Salón, Madrid, Es.
Octave, dance with me, lecture-performance, Matadero, Madrid, Es.
Comment ça va?, + Sabrina Soyer, curated by Clothilde Morette, Galerie Interface, Dijon, Fr.
Shoes, choose me!, Indice 50, Paris, Fr.
Sleeper Ship, invited by Carole Rigaut, Capsule 1.20, Halle Nord, Geneva, Ch.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
The Floating Ground, Glassbox, Paris, Fr.
Where do the pieces go?, Casa Bolivar, Madrid, Es.
How I lost my Hand, Setu, performances festival, organised by Marie L’hours + Morgane Besnard, Elliant, Fr.
Poppositions Off-Fair, organised by la Houle, La Vallée, Molenbeek, Be.
Surmultiplié, Zoo Galerie, Nantes, Fr.
Pierre feuille ciseaux, L’Agence, Paris, Fr.
XVII Call, gallery Luis Adelantado, Valence, Es.
Limited Editions, curated by Mathieu Mercier, Piasa, Paris, Fr.
Les Bateleurs, invited by L’Éclair, Busy, Fr.
Avant-Garden, invited by Cartel de Kunst, La Générale, Sèvres, Fr.
Young International Art Fair #4, invited by Zoo Galerie, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, Fr.
Hanter Belleville, Biennale of Belleville, Paris, Fr.
Festival R4, art video, Cinéma La Pagode, Paris, Fr.
Fabrica, invited by Quentin Lannes & Laura Vaissade, l--l, Geneva, Ch.
L’écho / Ce qui sépare, invited by Bruno Peinado, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, Fr.
Plus jamais seul, Standard, Rennes, Fr.
Suite, Zoo Galerie, invited by Lili Reynaud Dewar, Nantes, Fr.
C’est moi qui choisis, curated by Marc Olivier Wahler, Live in your Head, Geneva, Ch.
Enseigner comme des adolescent, Le Consortium, Dijon, Fr.
Culturisme, Ours Pistache, Geneva, Ch.
Zimmer Zimmer, Augarten Atelier, Vienna, At.
Site Specific, Urgent Paradise, Lausanne, Ch.
Cul sec, Halle Nord, Geneva, Ch.
Enseigner comme des adolescents, Forde, Geneva, Ch.
New Paradise, Urgent Paradise, Lausanne, Ch.
L’urbanité des médiums, Galerie Backslash, Paris, Fr.
Draw it, Tour st Aubin, Angers, Fr.
Personnages et accessoires, Vitrine sur Cour, Angers, Fr.
Exposition rétrographique, Galerie 19, Angers, Fr.
Dystopia, Château d’Oiron, Oiron, Fr.
RESIDENCIES
Idiosyncrasy of Kiev, Izolyatsia (Platform for cultural initiatives), Kiev, Ukraine, Ua.
EMMA, invited by Veronica Valentini, Matadero, Madrid, Es.
WOOP BOOM, invited by Yoan Sorin, Romain Bobichon, Camille Girard & Paul Brunet, Douarnenez, Fr.
AWARDS
Aide individuelle à la création, région Pays de La Loire, Fr.
Prix New Heads Fondation BNP Paribas Art Awards, Ch.
EDUCATION
Master HES-SO in Fine Arts, Contemporary Artistic Practices / HEAD / Geneva, Ch.
École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts / Visual communication - Angers (DNAP + DNSEP), Fr.
École de Recherche Graphique / Bruxelles, Be.
EXPERIENCES
2016
2015
2014
2012
Intervening artist, workshop BTS 1 Product’s design, Highschool Jean Monnet, Les Herbiers, Fr.
Artistic director of the book Haunting Belleville, Éditions Zéro2 (launched at OFFicielle Art Fair, Paris).
Artistic director of the magasine Superstition (launched at MJ Gallery, Geneva).
Artist assistant of Claire Pentecost, Documenta(13), Kassel.
Camille Tsvetoukhine is presenting The Splash Room, a new installation that examines the human and scientific condition of place, state and being, mixing anthropological methods with modern and popular techniques.
Playing with cultural material, imaginary resources and the archive of Russian ballet tradition in which painting,
dance and music converge at the same time, the artist uses the space of a swimming pool as a place to look at the
ground of cosmetics and well-being universe. The living-room becomes an empty swimming pool, which edge
becomes part of the interior decoration of the room and lends itself to various uses: around the tub, the ground
floor is converted into a shelf that presents ceramics, textiles, objects and drawings created by the artist from
scratch.
A collection without a défilé. Tsvetoukhine explores the archive of the Russian ballet, a company created by Serge
Diaghilev in the early twentieth century, focusing on the absence of the ballet dance itself from the archives.
Dance is secondary, preferring the suggestion of a representation that exists only in mysterious way. In The Splash
Room takes place a metaphorical bathroom in the ballet of Apogon’s protagonist Octave, which can be seen
through the embellishment and the ornament staging at the surface.
Contouring - Extra firming neck – Precious skin. Cosmetic and ceramics clays products are some of the materials involved in the rheological study, an interdisciplinary science that seeks the knowledge of deformation or of
flow of matter. The aim of the artist’s research consists in exhibiting the products designed to enliven the show
through a formal investigation, somehow between a surgical clinic and an operating room, in which the artist
works with transformation processes and emphasises that physic is strictly connected to physiology as the mind is
interwoven with the very fabric of nature.
Veronica Valentini
THE SPLASH ROOM
Installation views of The Splash Room, Salón, Madrid, 2016.
Blue tarp, wood, glazed ceramics, paints, banners.
THE SPLASH ROOM
Installation views of The Splash Room, Salón, Madrid, 2016.
white paint and drawings, 2016.
mask in clay, 2016
UNTITLED (SOL)
Untitled (SOL), 2016, is a video filmed in Madrid Planetarium where an impromptu juggler
puts into practice the art of manipulating objects - the ceramic letters S, O, L - twirling in
the air. The three sculptures draw/perform a status, a statement, a “concrete poetry” that embraces the surrounding environment and current season, creating purely haptic relationships
quickly developed between language and context.
The first time I met Octave he was swimming the butterfly stroke.
The mouvement of his arms brought a lot of water around him.
I liked to watch him because the gesture was rhythmic and cyclic,
as clock hand. It was also the first time he spoke to me. There
was a big gust of wind and my tube of cream fell into the water.
He tried to catch it but it was too late... my tube of cream became
heavy and very big. We knew when something falls in the water
there will be a transformation on it, except for our body and our
swimsuit because they gave us a special soap on our arrival.
Once, my socks dropped in the water and they became as hard
as stone. Sometimes we had good surprises and sometimes not.
Apogon’s workers put a pair of ceremonial white gloves on and
brought the new object to « the splash room » but sometimes
they just couldn’t move the mutants objects, due to the weight,
condition or heat... Once a month the team of workers did a
show for us with these pieces, that’s what I preferred in the
program, it’s so nice. That’s why I said it’s a different place. My
tube of cream finally stayed in the middle of the swimming pool,
as a sculpture, but it’s not easy to swim around. We must adapt
ourselves to the transformation of the space. We were wondering
with Octave if the cream inside has also grew...
I observe Octave since arriving in Apogon. At first, he looked
very sad and shy but since a few weeks ago he is like a fish in
water. He wears a beige bathrobe all the time. When we come
to Apogon, we must choose a color that we kept for the rest of
our stay. Each resident has a unique color for everything: towels,
bathrobe, bathing cap, palms, goggles... It is much easier to find
our stuff. I recently heard that beige is the new black for Spring/
Summer. As you can see, I prefer pink. Now the spectrum of
colors available is very low but there are still a lot of green hues.
We became friends since the splash of my tube of cream. We
spoke a lot about these transformations in water. About this
power... Is it possible to use it and to control it?
My tube of cream before the Splash.
I heard that somebody dropped his keys in the water and they
were transformed into a pile of dust. He couldn’t return to his
room – there isn’t a duplicate of this keys here you are the only
owner of your room. The bedroom will be closed for ever and
the poor guy lost all his stuff. Imagine if his dog had stayed in
the room that morning... We must be extremely careful with our
stuff because we are always around the water and around the
pool. We have to respect some rules: do not dive, do not play
with water, especially do not swallow water, etc. Everything is
explained on banners which are in each one of entrance doors to
the swimming pools. We cannot forget it, it is like breathing. As a
safety precaution, I decided to buy a protective amulet. I always
have it in my pocket. This is a small head, like a little mask,
with solarium glasses. I have to buy a new one every year and
return the old one so that it is burned by the sun. My only fear is
to forget about the expiry date of my amulet and then lose the
protection. But Octave is trying to count the days for me. He has
a very special technique, he uses the long seaweed and braids
the blades. Here, we must destroy our watches, our calendar, our
schedules etc upon our arrival.. We have no access to the news
of the world either. We are in a giant bubble. Apogon’s workers
think that it is better to lose the notion of time and so be able to
have an optimal relaxation. You must think that it is very strict.
It is not.This is not a therapy. Here we are free, happy, serene,
placid, smug, relaxed, flash, upbeat, cheerful... Everyone takes
care of each other. For example, Octave likes listening to music.
He often goes to watch clips. Once, he told me that I absolutely
had to listen to a song. He wants to share his pleasure with
me. It’s a french musician that I really like and I just found his
name: Joakim Bagheera. He lent me his headphones, we began
to dance, this is what I was listening: https://soundcloud.com/
joaquinbagheera/les-cocktails-sont-gratuits
This is my amulet against Splash.
IT IS THE BALLET BEING WRITTEN.
Extract from Octave dance with me, support of the performance lecture at Matadero, Madrid, 2016.
A5 size, color printing, 25 copies.
OCTAVE, DANCE WITH ME
Performance views of Octave, dance with me, Matadero, Madrid, 2016.
APOGON
Exhibition views of Comment ça va?, Galerie Interface, Dijon.
Installation : glazed ceramic, bathrobe, essential oil diffuser, sponge fabric, silkscreen, foam, wood paint, 2016.
(photo credits : Marianna Capuano)
APOGON
Exhibition views of Comment ça va?, Gallery Interface, Dijon.
Glazed ceramic, bathrobe, diffuser, sponge fabric, silkscreen, foam, wood and paint, 2016.
(photos credit : Marianna Capuano)
(...)
For the first night, we decided to make an Italian dinner. Olaf was perfectly cutting carrots, red peppers, onions and tomatoes into
little cubes, he wanted to make a risotto with truffle oil. But before we had eaten deli food whereI bought in a fine grocery store in
Paris. He chose a bottle of wine from the cellar and he served each of us a glass.
– Santé my dear friend, on this very special and precious night.
– Santé my dear friend, on this very special and precious night. Thank you for inviting me here, I really needed it and it’s perfect.
Now I can tell that the truffles have a more stronger smell than an old cooked fish.
We ate with a lot of pleasure, making a lot of sounds like miam, hum, it’s so good! He tried to speak to me in italian but his
knowledge was very limited by the food’s name as tiramisu, panettone, linguine etc it was most french italian yoghurt. But he had a
nice italian accent, a lot of fun! He spoke about his travel there, about the catacomb’s museum of Palermo that he visited, he told me
it was an amazing place with a lot of bourgeois skeletons.
– To go to Palermo to Sicile, I took a special train who followed the ocean’s coast. It’s a long but beautiful travel of nine hours. The
most incredible thing is that the train enters into a boat to join the island. It’s unbelievable. You should see this.
By speaking about all this paradisiac places with water, we decided to get swim in the river when we finished our dinner. A towel
in a hand and a lamp in the other one, we made the same travel than the afternoon but by walking this time. The weather was
cold, the sky was full of stars with a full moon very luminous as a film studio spot. Once arrived in front of the river, I was not sure
anymore if I wanted to swim or not. I felt the wine in my head and was a little bit tired by the day before and by the road. But Olaf
insisted and I finally accepted to come with him. I took off my clothes and was in underwear. I first putted a foot into the dark black
water. The ground was soft and full of seaweed. I entered carefully in the river, Olaf ’s body was already immersed in the river.
–Come on Meret!
–Oh my god...Olaf... I felt something against my leg, what is it?
–Probably a little fish. Relax!
I took my courage to join him. It was good to swim in the middle of the night. A brief wind moved the leafs of the trees around. A
natural symphony with the sounds of the wing’s bat.
Suddenly I heard a strange noise in my back. I returned myself and the water was moving behind me. Olaf was far very from me. I
called him but he doesn’t hear me because he was swimming like a crazy man. At this precise time I really hated him. I became scary. I felt something touching me again, it looked very big with a cold and rough skin. My fear was bigger and my heart beat harder
and harder. I decided to come back quickly on the edges but it was already to late. I discovered with horror what was touching me, I
was in front of a mega big fish, a fucking wels catfish. I felt so bad because I remembered watching videos on this subject few months before. This psycho fish can eat birds and measure almost ten meters. It was not a nice dolphin... I imagined myself prisoner in
his body like a mousse eaten by a snake. Between two movements, I screamed :
–OOOOOOLLLLLAAAAFFFFFF, please come!!! OOOLLLAFFFFF, help me pleeaasse!
Maybe the sound of my voice resonated in the deep water and he finally eared me and came as faster as he could.
–Something is......
I had not time to finished my sentence, I felt my hand and my arm entered in something wet and sticky. As someone sucked it
but in a bad way because I felt a lot of pain. My arm was in the wels fish’s mouth, oh my god... I thought that it was going to eat
me completely... I saw myself dead. My skin was moving, blood began to appear on the surface of the water. A part of my arm had
disappeared and it finished by licking my bones as a dog. My body was fallen into the ground under the water. I couldn’t breathe
anymore. Olaf came to help me and beat it with the lamp. The wels fish left. I was saved.
I sometimes dream of it and I say to the fish :
Give me back my hand, give me back my hand, please give me back my hand.
And I can feel my hand again but more like a ghost member.
I saw several surgeons and one of them was great. He offered me different prostheses, I finally chose two : the wooden branch for
the winter and the bones for the summer.
We are still friend with Olaf but in a different way, we’ll never swim together.
This is the end and this is how I lost my hand.
HOW I LOST MY HAND
Extract from the sound piece How I lost my hand
https://soundcloud.com/user-239422097
(text written and recorded by Camille Tsvetoukhine, 2016)
HOW I LOST MY HAND
Performance views of How I lost my hand, Setu, Elliant, 2016.
Sound piece (https://soundcloud.com/user-239422097),
bone ceramic, dress, straw + 10 people. (photo credits : Clément Harpillard)
«My mother and I were in a shoe shop in Taunton, Somerset. In this shop was a shiny wooden box, only slightly smaller in height than myself. It was a Pedoscope: a mysterious, fabulous, shoe-fitting machine. I still remember how the friendly assistant placed my newly shod feet into a slot at the bottom of this box.
Peering through a hole at the top, I could see the skeleton of my feet inside the outline of the new shoes (they were brown leather, bone hard with a stitched
toecap, and I didn’t like them). The attendant and my mother peered through other holes, encouraging me to wriggle my toes, making sure there was ample
space. Years later, I learnt that the Pedoscope was an X-ray machine...»
(My close encounter with the fabulous shoe-fitting machine, by Bernard Becker, The Telegraph, july 2012).
SHOES, CHOOSE ME!
Installation view of Shoes, Choose me! Indice 50, Paris.
X-ray of my foots, negatoscope, glazed ceramic (eyes), fabric, 2016.
BIOMÉTRIE MON AMOUR
Exhibition view Pierre, feuille, ciseaux, L’Agence, Paris.
Acrylic, gouache, pastel, 1,03x1,20m, 2015.
MASSUE PRÉHISTORIQUE
Exhibition view Surmultipliés, Zoo Galerie, Nantes.
Glazed ceramic, 0,75x0,15, 2015.
CELESTIAL PAVILION
Exhibition view Call XVII, gallery Luis Adelantado, Valence, Es.
Satin, felt, wood, 2015. (photo credits : Nacho López)
SLEEPER SHIP
Installation view Capsule 1.20, Halle Nord, Genève.
satin banner, 1,60m x 1,20m, clay’s sculpture on peach cans, 2015.
(photo credits : Quentin Lannes)
Haunting Belleville is a site-specific1 project consisting of strolls and lectures. This series of three similar events that have taken place at different moments of
the Biennale was born from the desire to use the concept of hantologie - hauntology - created by Jacques Derrida in the 1970s. Just before the digital boom,
when Derrida, or rather Derrida’s ghost, declared in the film Ghost Dance that the future will belong to ghosts, he prophetically announced the age to come: the
unprecedenteddevelopment of the Internet, the film industry, micro-processors, smartphones, the cloud, video games, home deliveries, social networks, Second
Life and the inclusion of these new technologies in our everydaylives. With hauntology, Derrida wrung the neck of prejudices and asserted that the new digital tools
resulting from recent technological advances in the field of telecommunications did not restrict the space of ghosts but, on the contrary, made their apparitions
easier, and greatlyincreased their powers. Ghosts appeared in Belleville’s dead ends and came simultaneously in one and same place. The successive gathering points
designated by the mystical maps of these Belleville ghosts were the lecture venues of AlexisGuillier, Érik Bullot and Clémence de Montgolfier. Used like ephemeral
and critical signs, ghosts of the “white sheet with eye holes” type prompt us to think about the issue of the ghost today. They are the wise man’s finger pointing at the
moon. The visual and theoretical research of the three invited personalities is akin to these reflections. They will be the moon. Do you believe in ghosts?
HANTER BELLEVILLE
In situ, realised with Adrien Guillet, with deambulations and talks,
during the Biennale of Belleville 3, Paris, 2014.
(photo credits : Bertha Espinoza Leon)
HELLO #my friends
Installation view of Avant-Garden in Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres, curated by Cartel de Kunst.
Hello # my friend, Satin, felt, 1,90x1m, 2014.
+ vidéo Hiawatha 7’47 (photo credits : Laetitia Striffling)
LE JARDIN DES
MÉTAMORPHOSES
pictures of the video Le jardin des métamorphoses 7’47, 2014.
(http://www.draw-it.fr/2/)
with : Anastasia Bruelle
voix off : Gloria Maso
playlist : Marion Guillet
I assisted the american artist Claire Pentecost, during two months at the dOCUMENTA (13) en 2012. My task was to feed living worms in a compost.
MUE
Installation view Suite, Zoo Galerie, Nantes, curated by Patrice Joly.
worm costum, 1,65x0,55m, 2012.
SUCCULENTS
Exhibition view of C’est moi qui choisis, Live in your Head, Geneva,
curated by Marc Olivier Wahler.
serie of 10 glazed ceramic, cactus, soil, 12,5x15,5x17,5cm,
(photo credits: Sandra Pointet )
PERFORMANCE - LE VER DORÉ / 2013
PART 1 We are here together today to celebrate the spirit of le ver doré - the golden worm. As we all know, the worm is present in our hearts and her many
descendants live in the ground beneath us. I am glad to welcome you in this worm space. Perhaps some of you aren’t familiar with the story of le
ver doré. First, I think it is important to remember that the origin of the worm is known to us through a video archive that was found in a small
city called «Lambricus.» The town is located on the White Mountain.
We have here a segment of a video which was lent to us by one of the Disciples. He has also given me a very precious document in which the
origin is told. I will now read an extract.
Le ver doré is the most beautiful and beloved entity that inhabits the White Mountain. She is filled with expansive power. Her most important
resource is the soil. With soil, she can sustain life for all of her descendants and disciples. In her kingdom, we dwell in harmony and happiness.
Le ver doré has existed since the dawn of time, though her presence was brought to light after our early ancestors gained victory over the Kurdish
Minimalists in the Great War. We are not exactly sure what happened. Our knowledge of the war is vague, but we know that the Le ver doré lives
alone with her last disciples at the top of the White Mountain.
For many years, Le ver doré possessed a very precious and valued sculpture composed of nine stone slabs. During the great war her sculpture was
dismantled, displacing each component very far from her kingdom. She moved no longer. Le ver doré remained as still as the sculpture once was.
Her state of inactivity washed over the disciples and a time of grief and struggle began. With great fervor, our forefathers performed the ancestral
rites in hopes of reanimating the giver of life. Ceremonies of dance, music and the sacred rite of playing «le tambourin des agneaux,» which once
greatly pleased le grand vers, had no effect. In a final attempt to save her life, they decided to reconstruct the sacred sculpture. An intense quest for
the nine stones began. Members from each group of disciples joined the constructivists who had first proposed to rebuild the sculpture. The quest
lasted nearly 300 years. Almost all of the disciples were lost in the dark forrest which surrounded the mountain. Even the strongest disciples, the
painters and the constructivists, disappeared. Only four disciples remained to continue the way of the le grand vers, but the sculpture was never
reconstructed.
PART 2 --As we have seen, the life of Le ver doré was jeopardized in The Great War and the precious sculpture was dismantled. In the video archive, we
can note that a procession takes place, we can also suppose that the different generations of disciples have continued to celebrate the spirit of Le
ver doré. When the disciple lent me the video, we had a long discussion about the context and physical elements that remain : : the video, the text
and the objects that are here with us. Of course, they are replicas except for the gold worm, which is from the epoch. Through our conversation, I
was able to deepen my knowledge of the objects, especially that of the burgers / cacti, which were very enigmatic for me. First, I believed that they
were the vegetation of the kingdom, but it is much more than a simple plant, Indeed, the spirit of the worm is inside this structure. The objects are
produced and filled of the precious resource, the soil. It is the same resource provides happiness for the disciples. They feel a constant pleasure that
the soil is protected by a dangerous prickly succulent: the cactus. We believe that the disciples created these objects as an offering to Le ver doré to
thank her for their unspeakable happiness.
PART 3 -Following our lengthy discussion, this disciple advised me to meet another very involved disciple named Claire Pentecost. I decided to follow his
advice. I met her one year ago in Kassel, Germany during a large conference. It was an unprecedented chance to share time with her because she
was very dedicated and constantly paid tribute to Le ver doré. During two months we worked for the cause. I was able to form a close relationship
with the worms - descendants of Le ver doré. To be more precise, contributed to their subsequent survival. In fact, my mission was very specific, I
had to keep the descendants alive by feeding them. Yet it was not just any food, there was a very strict protocol. The worms were the soil, but in a
particular context: in a kind of living reliquary.
They were a very valuable species as they were part of a direct lineage from Le ver doré. They were chosen so that the followers could feel in communion with Le ver doré. To maintain the best living conditions, the soil had to remain wet and I came three times per week to bring the peels of
fruits and vegetables. I had to adapt my own diet with regards to their nutrition. Only the skins of specific fruits and vegetables were permitted.
The peels had to be as thin as possible, orange and banana and eggplant peels were completely indigestible to them and could even affect their
survival. I had a few scares at my hotel, as the housekeepers, to their dismay, though the food I had collected was waste and threw it out.
I had to take extra care and vigilance with valuable plants, often having to hide them. Another one of my tasks was to monitor the humidity
of their home, the soil. Claire, the great disciple, was very friendly and helped me to identify when the soil was too wet and to see whether the
prescribed doses were sufficient or not. Therefore, I really lived to the rhythm and needs of descendants, which was a great honor for me. I could
even hear the sound they made due to an amplification system, installed so that I and the other followers could listen to their breathing. This was
a great privilege.
Alongside disciple Claire Pentecost, I understood much better the importance of Le ver doré and her descendants mission to regenerate the soil so
that it could provide nutrients and happiness to help the seeds of the future.
PART 4 ---glimmer / light / shiny / precious / beautiful
glossy / lovely / sweety / pretty / friendly
SOIL
I believe in worms
I believe in Le ver doré
I love soil
I love compost
I hate pesticide
I hate Golf
LE VER DORÉ
Performance views Le ver doré, HEAD Genève.
Ceramics glaze, 58x5,5x5,5cm, 2013.
(Photo’s credits : Emily Bonnet)
LE VER DORÉ
Extract from the video Le Ver Doré, 6’04, 2013.
to watch it : http://www.draw-it.fr/2/