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Friday 15 March – Sunday 31 March

Volcanahita

Yosra Mojtahedi

2023 / Iran / France

Chapelle de l’Ancien Hôpital Général

Opening hours :
Tuesday to Saturday, 1pm to 7pm
Sunday from 2pm to 6pm

The work:

Volcanahita emerges as a contemplative ritual, an organic-machine embodying the delicate melding of feminist archaeology and a reinterpretation of ancient, lost civilizations. Inspired by the inner fires of volcanoes and the mythical tale of Anahita, the goddess of pristine waters, Volcanahita floats and comes to life in a black basin, where the black oil of industry becomes a nourishing substance, rising and falling in sacred sensuality.

This work thus becomes a poetic allegory of the duality inherent in our existence. Like a phoenix of recycled machines, organic pipes and pumps, Volcanahita explores the post-apocalyptic landscape, symbolizing death and rebirth, destruction and regeneration. Volcanoes, enigmatic guardians of time, project bursts of healing fire and purifying water.

Every detail of this creation reflects the strata of feminine thought, questioning our relationship with the material world. As a sacred warrior, Volcanahita invites us to meditate on the fragile harmony of our existence, where fluid and mist intertwine their enigmas in the silent epic of the sacred.

Volcanahita, forged from recycled machinery, organic pipes and pumps, is a sculpture born of the encounter between art and technology, marked by the imprint of time and transformation.

Organic forms, delicate glass sculptures, add a timeless dimension to this body. Like crystallized organs of fire, these glass pieces have undergone the same alchemical process as volcano lava, frozen in an eternal moment of metamorphosis.
The floor surrounding the liquid basin is lined with black pozzolan, offering a multi-sensory dimension of the land of volcanoes. Fluids circulate, accompanied by the gentle murmur of flowing water, creating a meditative atmosphere.

Volcanahita thus becomes a reflection on the coexistence of the natural and the manufactured, the primitive and the technological. Black oil, once functional and now reborn, carries with it echoes of the industrial past, while nourishing this landscape of forms frozen in eternal gestation. Each component, whether mechanical or organic, tells a story of renewal, frozen in visual poetry that transcends the limits of time.

The artist:

Yosra Mojtahedi was born in Teheran in 1986 and graduated from Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts in 2020. Her work explores the intersection between art, science, and technology, with a focus on “soft robotics”. Her sculptural installations in the form of “machine-humans” or “body-fountains” are sensual works that challenge and question taboos associated with the female body. “Black” occupies a central place in her creations, symbolizing the absolute and the depth of the void, transcending the limits of time. There’s a strongly assumed feminism at work here: she creates universes where nature and gender merge, revealing a political and unifying message to transcend fragile boundaries. 

Winner of the ADAGP’s Digital Art-Video Art Revelation in 2020, her work has been exhibited internationally, notably in France, Belgium, Iran, Italy, Germany, Dubai and Turkey.

Artist portrait:

Credits :

Yosra MOJTAHEDI (France / Iran)
Sculptural, moving and sound installation, 2024
Steel, glass sculptures, black oil, black pozzolana, pipes, pumps
Dimensions variable: (approx.) 250 H x 160 W x 140


Glass sculptures created in collaboration with Nadia Festuccia – l’atelier Vetromaghie in Rome- Italy.
Sound: Timothée Couteau.
Produced by VIDEOFORMES for the Route des Villes d’Eaux du Massif Central as part of the Culture Bains #2 project supported by the ANCT du Massif Central. The work was created during a residency in partnership with the city of Evaux-les-Bains, the thermal baths and Creuse Confluence tourist office.

 

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