Paris Photo 2023: Eva Nielsen puts our impact on the Camargue in dynamic focus
At Paris Photo 2023, ‘Insolare’ by Eva Nielsen, in collaboration with BMW Art Makers, is a compelling exploration of human impact on the landscape
Curator Marianne Derrien recalls exploring the Camargue years ago and having the instinct that the changing landscape would lead to a collaboration with her long-time friend, the artist Eva Nielsen. What would come to fruition is ‘Insolare’ – now showing at Paris Photo 2023, 9-12 November – a dynamic exploration of our impact on the landscape through a hybridised approach, creating an emotive reflection on the disappearance of urban, industrial and natural landscapes.
Eva Nielsen’s ‘Insolare’ at Paris Photo 2023
The works were conceived with the BMW Art Makers programme, which each year supports the creation of an experimental visual arts project in response to current social and environmental issues. First exhibited at the Rencontres d'Arles earlier this year, fittingly the exhibition has been designed to ensure that materials are produced and used as sparingly as possible as the show is reinterpreted for the Paris Photo context.
To walk through the installation is to move between the environmental layers Nielsen and Derrien have created. ‘Insolare’s layers exist within the artworks as Nielson overlays images of mosquito nets with overviews of the Camargue’s geography and its architecture; layers exist within the installation too, as some works are sheer, others latex, some shine, and others appear to absorb the light through their abstracted forms. As these layers overlap and connect in their metal framework, the incredible complexity of loss in nature is referenced.
Nielsen’s dusty bluish greens and rich yellows are reminiscent of many past artists that have been drawn to the Camargue, including Vincent Van Gogh, and serve as a tie to the past while remaining current in the message of environmental concern. Also important is that ‘sedimation’ is recognised as significant for both artist and curator, reflecting their grounding intentions and deep intuitive connection to the land.
Nielsen describes the sense of walking and feeling absorbed into the landscape, explaining that the link to ecofeminism’s intuitive and non-dominating perspective is present as the works travel ‘with’ the land.
Other must-sees at Paris Photo 2023 include Webber Gallery’s curation of 12 incredible artists; Fellowship's fluid redefinition of the boundaries of image-making and AI; and Offprint showcasing a dizzying number of publishers in the fields of art, architecture, design, humanities and visual culture.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
As Photography Editor at Wallpaper*, Sophie Gladstone commissions across fashion, interiors, architecture, travel, art, entertaining, beauty & grooming, watches & jewellery, transport and technology. Gladstone also writes about and researches contemporary photography. Alongside her creative commissioning process, she continues her art practice as a photographer, for which she was recently nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award. And in recognition of her work to date, listed by the British Journal of Photography as ‘One to Watch’.
-
‘The world doesn’t necessarily need any more chairs’ and other design quotes to take into 2025
From Faye Toogood on pushing down barriers to Michael Bennett on Black design – we celebrate highlights from the past year of Wallpaper* interviews with design industry trailblazers
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Fine dining is plant-powered at this intimate east London restaurant
Chef Kirk Haworth’s Plates thrives in its synergetic dialogue between people, nature and ingredients
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
New wave: 11 electric boats for a nautical New Year
From cutting-edge electric hydrofoils to elegant speedboats, here are some of the newest innovations to take to the waves
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this week
Investing in quality knitwear, scouting a very special pair of earrings and dining with strangers are just some of the things keeping the Wallpaper* team occupied this week
By Bill Prince Published
-
Tom Wesselmann’s enduring influence on pop art goes under the spotlight in Paris
‘Pop Forever, Tom Wesselmann &...’ is on view at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris until 24 February 2025
By Ann Binlot Published
-
Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series comes to life for Art Basel Paris
In ‘Tales & Tellers’, interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga brings Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales film series for Art Basel Paris to life for the public programme
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Art Basel returns to Paris: here is everything to see and do
Art Basel Paris 2024 (18 - 20 October 2024) returns, opening at the newly renovated Grand Palais
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Elmgreen & Dragset explore contemporary masculinity in Paris
We visit Elmgreen & Dragset at their Berlin studio ahead of new exhibition ‘L’Addition’ at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, a subversive take on the classical form
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Don’t miss Henri Matisse and Ellsworth Kelly at Fondation Louis Vuitton
Fondation Louis Vuitton present a series of works by Matisse and Kelly, celebrating the influence they had on the trajectory of contemporary art
By Tianna Williams Published
-
‘Who has not dreamed of seeing what the eye cannot grasp?’: Rencontres d’Arles comes to the south of France
Les Rencontres d’Arles 2024 presents over 40 exhibitions and nearly 200 artists, and includes the latest iteration of the BMW Art Makers programme
By Sophie Gladstone Published
-
Matthew Barney draws on a sporting horror history with video installation ‘Secondary’
Matthew Barney revisits a haunting memory of violence and spectacle in his first institutional show in Paris in over a decade
By Hili Perlson Published