Artists: Henning Bohl, Julien Ceccaldi, Renaud Jerez, Nathaniel Mellors, John Russell
Exhibition title: It’s all the same fucking day, man
Venue: Crèvecoeur, Paris, France
Date: January 19 – March 3, 2017
Photography: © Aurélien Mole, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Crèvecoeur, Paris
According to Wikipedia, the word “Neanderthal” comes from “Neandertal”, the name of a small valley on the territory of the towns of Erkrath and Mettmann, between Düsseldorf and Wuppertal (Germany). In the month of August 1856, as part of the exploitation of a quarry, workers emptied out a small cavity, the Feldhofer Grotte. There, they discovered some bones and the fragment of a skull, which they passed on to Johann Carl Fuhlrott, a school teacher in Elberfeld who was keen on natural history.
Appropriately enough, the toponym Neandertal means “the new man’s valley”. The name “Neander” had been given to this valley (in German “tal”, previously “thal”) in honour of Joachim Neumann (1650-1680), also called Joachim Neander, for, adopting a family custom dating from his grandfather and very common at the time, he had translated into ancient Greek his German surname, which literally means “new man”. This pastor and composer, who wrote religious canticles that are still popular among German Protestants, used to search his inspiration in this valley, which was then idyllic.
“The new man”. At each era, we examine the current of contemporary Homo sapiens – as a species. Since the end of the Middle Ages, the perception of the speed of time, a feeling of acceleration, hoped for or deplored throughout history has given rise to many analyses, tales and projections. As the revolution of communication has led to an unheard-of densification of contacts, this has pushed the perception of Homo sapiens into a head-spinning acceleration of present time, in which human experience has been radically transformed by digital technologies. The artists in this exhibition speculate about these evolutions so as to envisage possible scenarios, as much about greater oppression as about potential emancipation.
Remerciements / Special thanks:
Henning Bohl, Julien Ceccaldi, Renaud Jerez, Nathaniel Mellors, John Russell
Jenny’s, Los Angeles
Bridget Donahue, New York
*Extrait d’une chanson de/ Excerpt from a song by Janis Joplin, Ball and Chains, cité par/quoted by John Russell in «BRUCE WILLIS, IRIGARAY, AND THE AESTHETICS OF SPACE TRAVEL» (Mute website 05/12/ 2014)
