L’Effet de serre at Abbatiale Bellelay

Artists: Benedikt Bock, Emilie Ding & Alizée Lenox, Richard Frater, Thomas Julier, Max Kriegleder, Claire van Lubeek, Léa Katharina Meier, Jan van Oordt, Jean-Charles de Quillacq, Margaret Raspé, Virginie Sistek, Terre Thaemlitz

Exhibition title: L’Effet de serre

Curated by: Sylvain Menétrey

Venue: Abbatiale Bellelay, Saicourt, Switzerland

Date: June 29 – August 18, 2024

Photography:  all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Abbatiale Bellelay

Note: Exhibition guide is available here

There was no way things could get messed up. A harmonious order, centred on culti-vated Man, a rational being who guaranteed that the universe would run like clo-ckwork. A soul brought to perfection by education, contemplation and action ruled over the flesh, keeping it from slumping into its animal nature. Religion promised beatitude to those who led a just life.

But cracks had been splitting open for a long time. There were attempts to put the pieces back together after each bloody convulsion, but technological “progress” continued to rend the protective fabric. Then protests from the outside began to be heard. Why can’t we women, too, warm ourselves in your greenhouse of sovereignty, gentlemen? Why are we colonised people not entitled to your dignity?

Recriminations broke out all around. Likewise, advocates for the animals, plants, forests, rivers and oceans, all mistreated by human exceptionalism, demanded an end to domination. Inside the tattered greenhouse, some could not accept the de-centring and accusations. Instead of stitching it up once again, they decided that the greenhouse had become a hindrance and had to be burned down. They began building high walls to re-establish borders and constructing spaceships to escape.

Virginie Sistek, Pâtis Tidiness, 2023. Vidéo, 15’03’’ (excerpt)