Claudia Comte
The Day that Wood and Matter Wanted to Become Salt Water
July 5, 2021
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
"The Day that Wood and Matter Wanted to Become Salt Water", a performance by Claudia Comte with movement by Cecilia Bengolea and music by Egon Elliut at Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza. Photo: Rafael Suarez
Programming
MNTB Madrid
EN / ES
The practice of imitation is an ancient one. If you move like a wave you may become one, if you pose like a coral, you may become one, if you act like a fish you may become one… Mimesis is the language of becoming and the space for alterity. When else could you understand best what it is to be or not to be the Ocean then the very moment you act like it? Claudia Comte’s performance is both mimicking her own sculptural practice and the depictions of marine animals inhabiting the exhibition. The movements created by Cecilia Bengolea, dancer and artist, absorb the forms of life of the waters to render them even more present and to influence our bodies so that we may as well follow her in this exercise. Additionally, Comte’s recreation of the reef will be activated by an original score of Egon Elliut. All three are there to interpret for us the movements of the Ocean, to situate us in a dynamic relation with the corals, the light, the senses of the animals and plants that constitute the universe of this work at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Claudia Comte (b. 1983) is a Swiss artist based in Basel. Her work centres on the memory of materials and a careful observation of how the hand relates to different technologies.
Comte, who is best known for her site-specific installations, studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL and obtained a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland. Her practice is guided by a distinct system of her own creation, wherein each artwork specifically relates to another. Comte's minimalist approach to art making is equal parts methodical and dynamic. Ranging from sculpture to painting, to multimedia installation, her works are infused with a distinct sense of playfulness.
Carving by hand, or scanning, or 3D printing are all functions of a knowledge that sculpture possesses and shares every time a new piece comes to life. What we need to learn is how to see —in every pattern, and, object— an environment, oxygen, the way the conditions of our planet modify the materials.
Comte’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London (2019), I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York City (2019), Zigzags and Diagonals, MOCA Cleveland (2018), Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel (2018), KölnSkulpture #9, Köln (2017), La Ligne Claire, Basement Roma (2017), NOW I WON, Messeplatz, Art Basel (2017), 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2017), DesertX, Palm Springs, The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, New York (2016), NO MELON NO LEMON, Gladstone Gallery, New York (2015), Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2014), Sharp Sharp at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow (2014), and Elevation 1049, Gstaad (2013).
The practice of imitation is an ancient one. If you move like a wave you may become one, if you pose like a coral, you may become one, if you act like a fish you may become one… Mimesis is the language of becoming and the space for alterity. When else could you understand best what it is to be or not to be the Ocean then the very moment you act like it? Claudia Comte’s performance is both mimicking her own sculptural practice and the depictions of marine animals inhabiting the exhibition. The movements created by Cecilia Bengolea, dancer and artist, absorb the forms of life of the waters to render them even more present and to influence our bodies so that we may as well follow her in this exercise. Additionally, Comte’s recreation of the reef will be activated by an original score of Egon Elliut. All three are there to interpret for us the movements of the Ocean, to situate us in a dynamic relation with the corals, the light, the senses of the animals and plants that constitute the universe of this work at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
Claudia Comte (b. 1983) is a Swiss artist based in Basel. Her work centres on the memory of materials and a careful observation of how the hand relates to different technologies.
Comte, who is best known for her site-specific installations, studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL and obtained a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland. Her practice is guided by a distinct system of her own creation, wherein each artwork specifically relates to another. Comte's minimalist approach to art making is equal parts methodical and dynamic. Ranging from sculpture to painting, to multimedia installation, her works are infused with a distinct sense of playfulness.
Carving by hand, or scanning, or 3D printing are all functions of a knowledge that sculpture possesses and shares every time a new piece comes to life. What we need to learn is how to see —in every pattern, and, object— an environment, oxygen, the way the conditions of our planet modify the materials.
Comte’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli (2019), Fruits and Jungle, König Galerie, London (2019), I have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, 24th St, New York City (2019), Zigzags and Diagonals, MOCA Cleveland (2018), Swiss Performance Now, Kunsthalle Basel (2018), KölnSkulpture #9, Köln (2017), La Ligne Claire, Basement Roma (2017), NOW I WON, Messeplatz, Art Basel (2017), 10 Rooms, 40 Walls, 1059 m2, Kunstmuseum Luzern (2017), DesertX, Palm Springs, The Language of Things, with the Public Art Fund, New York (2016), NO MELON NO LEMON, Gladstone Gallery, New York (2015), Easy Heavy III, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2014), Sharp Sharp at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow (2014), and Elevation 1049, Gstaad (2013).