Floralia II

By utilising a mixture of photography, 3D animation and analog technologies, Canada-born, Paris-based artist Sabrina Ratté investigates the interplay between surroundings and subjectivity. Her practice includes video, animation, installations, sculptures, audio-visual performances and prints, all of which function in service of a multidisciplinary exploration of space, both digital and physical. For her latest video series, Floralia, Ratté draws inspiration from the writing of Donna J. Haraway, the author of A Cyborg Manifesto, as well as science-fiction writers Ursula K. Le Guin and Greg Egan, as she imagines a speculative future in which samples of extinct plant species are preserved and displayed in a virtual archive room. Across the four works Ratté simulates four ecosystems, visualising a fusion of organic matter and technology whereby, as Ratté explains, past life and new technology “coexist in a perpetual tension of the present.” The artist has also incorporated elements from each of the four works into a print that will be displayed alongside the videos as part of the installation. Each video depicts the various ecosystems as they experience moments of interference, caused by memories escaping from the plant samples as ancient energy is released from their organic forms, “revealing traces of a past that continues to haunt the place.” The video works are accompanied with sound design and field recordings from Canadian artist Andrea-Jane Cornell, as well as soundtrack composition from Ratté herself. Floralia will be shown at the Centre Pompidou as part of Hors Pistes Festival, which takes place from January 22 until February 7. For more information check out the Centre Pompidou website.