Indice Ultraviolet: Décalage vers le rouge at CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel

Artists: Apian (Aladin Borioli), Early Labyrinth, Sol Calero, Marie Griesmar, rrreefs, Renaud Loda, Rive Gauche, invité·e·x·s, Raphaëlle Mueller, MACACO Press, Sabrina Fernández Casas, Patricio Gil Flood, Francisco Sierra, Jan van Oordt, La Dépendance, Mathis Pfäffli, Reto Pulfer, Holly White

Exhibition title: Indice Ultraviolet: Décalage vers le rouge

Curated by: CAN team and Colin Raynal

Venue: CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Date: June 26 – August 8, 2021

Photography: Sebastian Verdon / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists, CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel

Indice Ultraviolet: Décalage vers le rouge is the continuation of a project initiated in 2019. It is based on the concept of an imperfect “measurement” that relates artistic practices, each one resonating with its environmental context, approaching through scientific, social, political, hobbyist, idle and activism…

Conceived as a biannual series of exhibitions, it is intended as an opportunity to probe certain issues (ecological, cultural and social). It starts with an idea and each new occurrence reorients itself according to the guests. If the theme of the “passion-project” was very anchored in the phase 1, which posed the base of a reflection on the relation which can link a hobby or an odd job to an artistic practice, and in this way establishes a method of production out of the studio; the core of phase 2 moves towards another form of passion, the collective engagement. By fusing their individual concerns with a personal language but also a research directed towards the other (human or non-human), the artists can provoke a shift, symbolized by the red shift of celestial bodies due to the expansion of the universe.

Each exhibition of Indice Ultraviolet is inaugurated at the beginning of the summer and refers to this period of the year when holidays starts (whether we take them or not) and where existential preoccupations and desires for relaxation can meet. Indeed, under this solar influence, ideals and questionings sometimes fade; our behaviors related to the climate emergency or our political commitment, for example, can fade in front of the quest for idleness or a beach office. In such a context of abandonment, this project presents itself as a permeable layer transmitting a sample of signals, and in so doing, can communicate the troubled atmosphere of a worried society with the futile pleasures of summer. In the form of open-ended questions, reminiscent of the structure of the symposium that served as a framework for reflection two years ago, we could continue “the discussion between coffee and dessert” with this question: How do we spend time and envision the future?