Le Monde Physique

“In scientific terminology “physical” is applied to a world that can be apprehended through its material properties and visible phenomena. In cartography certain planispheres bear the mention “Map of the Physical World” or, more simply, “The Physical World”; this implies a geographical, geological or climatic interpretation to be distinguished from geopolitical, economic, demographic or other presentations.

Verging overtly on the tautological, the title “The Physical World” suggests a calling into question not only of the nature of that world, but also, by direct inference, the imagining of its opposite. Are there such things as non-physical worlds, and if so, how are they to be represented?

The exhibition “The Physical World” takes this issue of physicality – and possible non-physicality – as its starting point: four artists have produced new works exploring the difference between concrete observation of the world and other types of representation, either more abstract or springing from the imagination.

In her slideshow Field Study, based on the inventory of a meadow, Anne Tallentire asks us to construct a mental map of the migratory flows triggered by different botanical species. And the interactive video installation Nowhere Else has us deciphering her urban rovings as imaginary constellations.”