Willkommen im Hotel Amazonas, Gaëlle Chanu

Heute stellt sich uns Gaëlle Chanu aus Frankreich vor:

“Born in Saint Brieuc (Brittany, France) the 21st of July, live and work in Brussel. In 2008, after several exhibitions in Brittany, the desire to discover new horizons grew. Brussels seemed a good destination: a lively arts scene open to young artists. I am currently in full preparation for exhibitions during summer 2013, and the Hotel Amazonas will be a laboratory to start up its.

The residence at the Hotel Amazonas is the ideal place to explore in depth the link between our anatomy and the natural world. Indeed, I use the fractal structures found in plants in the realization of my installations which feature anatomical drawings. I will turn into discoverer of southern Tyrol and the hotel would be my refuge. I will take inspiration from the Tyrolean indigenous plants, animals and rocks to make a series of tropical drawings and de velop a collection of summer organic dresses.

Here is brief description of my artistic practice:

Movement of the foreign body
The exposure and exhibition of the human body in contemporary society is relentless. Today, we must continually reassess the nature and status of the human body, alive or dead: surgery, medical imaging and even the exhibition of plastinated bodies. Corpses have become amalgams of flesh and technology; bodies are malleable even after death. To discover the undercover I explore its internal dimensions, its circulatory system and its anatomy.
In the same way as Kiki Smith and Louise Bourgeois, I question the symbolism and myths that the body has carried over the centuries. The old anatomical prints, where the inside body is a figment of the imagination, fascinate me. They are windows on the world of first surgical discoveries. In my installations I explore their similarity with the fractal dimension of existence. The idea of matrix interest me particularly, the white areas that are unintelligible by man, the very definition of white by Kandinsky «a nothing before birth, prior to commencement».”

Hotel Amazonas ist eine temporäre einmonatige KünstlerInnen-Residenz, installiert auf dem Aspmayr-Hof in Wangen am Ritten in Südtirol. Der ehemalige Bauern- und Gasthof wird ab Montag, 6. für den gesamten August umfunktioniert und zum Unterschlupf für Kunstschaffende und -forschende – parallel zur Residenz werden wir sie und ihre Arbeit in den kommenden Wochen auf Franz vorstellen. Zum Residenz-Tagebuch geht’s hier: hotelamazonas.tumblr.com.