Gaep hosts the exhibition ‘Organism’ by Théo Massoulier, a vibrant tableau of the intersection between art, biology, and technology.

Théo Massoulier’s first solo show with Gaep, titled ‘Organism’, presents new sculptures, assemblages and paintings that consolidate his inquiries into coevolution, the interplay of biology and technology, hybridisation, and the relationship between order and chaos.

The French artist produces hybrid serial forms where mineral elements, plants, artefacts or scraps of human technē coexist. Recently, he has started experimenting with bas-relief paintings that combine the energy of almost fluorescent colours with the dynamism of sculptural pieces resembling robotic or computer microparts.

“The word ‘organism’ allows me to connect all of the works in the exhibition to the concept of lyfe (theorized by Stuart Bartlett) and prompts contemplation on the depth of our relationship with the tool (and to its subsequent complex development – technology). Etymologically, ‘organism’ comes from the Greek órganon, which means instrument or tool. The flint tool was the first organ external to the body of the genus Homo.

Our coevolution with the tool has given rise to a new evolutionary lineage which is neither inert matter nor organic matter, but organized inorganic matter. As long as the tool was content to remain a tool, we dominated it in order to make use of it and of its capacity to transform the world. With technology, the power dynamic is liable to reverse. While humans dominated the tool in the past, the future suggests the domination of humans by what they have created.

The evolutionary leap (i.e., increase in complexity) of tools was made possible by the massive influx of fossil energy (ultraefficient because it is fluid, concentrated and abundant) over the past century. This energy – itself coming from ancient living organisms (plankton, ferns from several million years ago) – was vectorized by the driving forces of human organisms and powered the likely constitution of an organism without organs, which, unlike the cell, appears as hybrid, decentralized, fluid and without contour.

The emergence of organized inorganic matter, however, collectively exacts a debt from us that looks more burdensome with each passing day. For the organizational movement of tools implies and necessarily physically generates (I am referring here to the laws of thermodynamics and entropy) the disorganization of the environment that permits and fuels its growth.

Order calls for chaos.

The exhibition presents a selection of sculptures, assemblages and paintings that question and put into perspective in a fantasized way different dialectics underlying the idea of organism: inert matter and complex matter; growth and predation; spatial scale and emergence; border between interiority and exteriority.” — Théo Massoulier

The exhibition can be visited until March 30th, 2024.