10 Jul 2021 – 23 Dec 2022
Marguerite Humeau, High Tide (The Dancer II, The Dancers III & IV), 2019. Installation view: Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2019 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Photo: Julia Andréone
Marguerite Humeau, High Tide (The Dancer II, The Dancers III & IV), 2019. Installation view: Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2019 © the artist. Courtesy the artist and C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Photo: Julia Andréone
Marguerite Humeau is intrigued by things that are extinct and in forms that are yet to come. Working with teams of researchers from very diverse disciplines – from palaeontology and behavioural science to engineering, linguistics and many more – her projects mix science, history, myth, animism and bioethics. She has resurrected the sounds of prehistoric creatures and the voice of Cleopatra, and has produced new versions of 150,000-year-old ‘Venus’ figurines, based on research into trance, ecstatic ritual, and animal morphology. Humeau stresses that though scientific facts are important in her sculptures, installations and drawings, speculation and fiction are essential in the creation of ‘strong physical, almost supernatural experiences.’
Marguerite Humeau (born 1986, Cholet, France) lives and works in London. Humeau studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands and the Royal College of Art, London.
Marguerite Humeau, High Tide (detail), 2019 © the artist. Courtesy the artist, C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Photo: Eden Krsmanovic
What if non-human beings mourn their dead, and weep for the extinction of other species – what if global warming is triggering the birth of spiritual feelings in them?
– Marguerite Humeau
Marguerite Humeau, The Prayer, A marine mammal invoking higher spirits, 2019. Installation view: C L E A R I N G Brussels © the artist. Courtesy the artist, C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Photo: Eden Krsmanovic
Marguerite Humeau, Mist (Waste I -1, Waste I - 3), 2019. Installation view: C L E A R I N G Brussels © the artist. Courtesy the artist, C L E A R I N G New York/Brussels. Photo: Eden Krsmanovic