Gallery 4

New scientific research has revealed what could have been the earliest forms of life: it germinated at the foot of volcanoes triggered by a correlation of water and basaltic rock.

Their interaction gave birth to cellular organisms who slowly developed into plantae, animalia, fungi and bacteria.

At the scale of our planet, its history and life on earth, human life has the fleetingness of the blink of an eye.

We have attempted in a poetic way to embrace chaos, to dive into the cracks and the abyss, trying to extract the fragments of genesis: telluric, atmospheric, vibrant and carnal.

This animation film: – a visual poem, was created from video footage taken in Iceland by Thomasine Giesecke.

The soundtrack is from Tom Georgel.

The editing and direction by Pascale Chau-Huu. 2024.

Pascale CHAU-HUU

Born in Marseille (France) her father is Vietnamese and her mother French, Pascale CHAU-HUU was brought up immersed in the Mediterranean light and sea. After studying art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, she started painting, mainly landscapes. She gives movements, rhythm and life to her subjects the air, water and light and brings flux and shivers to these elements. Intensionnally synesthete, the artist tries to make visible the different sensorial experiences. Through her painting, one connects with what has already been, crossed experiences, fragments of human life, which are frozen in the lanscapes but still intimate . After having worked in the animated film industry for a few years, Pascale Chau-huu used these personal techniques to make her own films. Her paintings and videos are set up to create hypnotic and immersive experiences full of vitality, comfort and inspire meditation. She lives and works in Paris and Normandy.

www.pascale-chauhuu.com

Thomasine GIESECKE is a visual artist and a yoga teacher. She has done work on different scales, from minimal to monumental in fields as eclectic as jewelry, making to furniture, sculptures and installations. Her favorite matter is « Glass scatters » which reveals bare sensuality and discrete refinement. She has created monumental sculptures for the headquarters of companies such as Alstom Transport, Bouygues Telecom ( Saint-Ouen, Paris) Her research around the matter glass has led her to establish bridges between science and art and to collaborate with searchers to create sculptures and installations that offer intrinsic quality to nature’s details which are invisible to a bare eye (Museum National d’Histoire Naturel de Paris then le LadHyX et l’Ecole CentraleSupelec et Universities of science : Laboratoire de physique et chimie d’Orsay, Hubert Curien de Saint Etienne, Grenoble et Rennes 1) Since 2006, she animates visits and workshops around permanent and temporary collections at the Musées d’Orsay, de l’Orangerie, Le Louvre and Delacroix.

She established an association « l’Atelier de Thomasine » in 2009 and organizes sensorial and artistic workshops for children and adults.

She was a guest artist for two residencies at LA Listasafn Arnesinga Art museum in Iceland, the first in October 2022 and the other in July 2023, she is currently organizing her third visit to present her collaborative pieces : Volvox and Metamorphosis which both reflect on the fascinating subject : « Minerals a living organism ».

Pianist, composer and improviser, Tom GEORGEL works with music in its many aspects. His debut album Et Toc! (2022) proves it by writing with and for improvisers, voices, and a very poetic dramaturgical development. This orchestral work of friction of the elements shows up in Tremblement (2022), Récréation premiered at Paris Philharmonie (2024), and Aladdin (2024) with his own ensemble Camion Rouge.

In Les Jours Ordinaires, commissioned by XXI.n, for actress, flute, accordion, cello and electronics, he explores the music of encounters and social distances. The show is hosted at the Cité de la Voix (Vézelay) and the POTE Festival. Tom Georgel developed the music part of Volvox during a residency at the École Polytechnique with the Chair of Arts and Sciences. He also works in the film music field, especially with Bertrand Hagenmüller : Prendre Soin (2018), Jeunesses d’Autres-Mers (2022) and the soon to come Les Esprits Libres (2025).

Piano player in all directions, he tours with Johan Boutin and their show Miz B & Mr G, a space of freedom and engagement through chansons from the French repertoire. He is part of Marie Mifsud’s quintet in her two albums Là and Récif and accompanies Juliette Meyer and Estelle Meyer. On stage, he composed and accompanied works of Alex Crestey, Philippe Mangenot and Benjamin Groetzinger (The Little Prince).

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Metamorphosis – Aux pieds des volcans.

De nouvelles découvertes scientifiques révèlent que les premières formes de vie sont nées aux pieds des volcans grâce à la présence conjuguée de l’eau et de rochers comme le basalte. De ce processus sont nés les organismes unicellulaires, puis ont lentement émergé les formes plantae, animae, fungi et bacteria.

A l’échelle de notre planète, de son histoire et de celle de la vie sur Terre, l’existence humaine a la fugacité d’un battement de cils. Nous avons pourtant tenté, poétiquement, d’embrasser le chaos, de plonger dans les failles et les gouffres, d’en extraire des bribes du mélange fécond de la Genèse : tellurique, atmosphérique, palpitant et charnel.

Ce film d’animation – un poème visuel – a été réalisé à partir de séquences vidéos prises en Islande par Thomasine Giesecke. La création sonore est de Tom Georgel. Le traitement des images et la réalisation sont de Pascale Chau-huu.