COLLECTIF GRAPAIN
Siblings Maëva and Arnaud Grapain collaborate as Collectif Grapain, creating diverse artworks across various mediums that incorporate scientific experiments, science fiction, and futuristic aesthetics. They explore topics such as nuclear waste and the emergence of life on it in spite of its toxicity. Drawing inspiration from post-apocalyptic scenes, Collectif Grapain engages with ‘neo-archeology,’ which examines past cultural systems through their remnants and speculates on how future archaeologists might interpret our present culture. In a world devastated by climate change, where soil is too contaminated for planting and sunlight struggles to penetrate toxic air, what will endure? Our legacy will likely comprise discarded technology, expired materials, industrial remnants, and hazardous waste. Modern zombies and computer data serve as evocative allegories in their work.
Using unconventional materials such as Ethernet cables and rock wool, the collective sculpts alternative landscapes. Ethernet cables are transformed into textured sculptures resembling archaeological remnants of unknown species, symbolizing a world hostile to biodiversity. Rock wool covers enigmatic structures, evoking centuries-old wrecks emerging from water.
Collectif Grapain presents a film Sans Soleil (Without Sun) (2024) in combination with sculptures constructed by melted internal components from technological devices in a “pyro-process”, hereby creating artificial lava. They aim to fuse cultural remnants into hybrid amalgamations, returning rare earth elements (REE) to their geological origins. The nine-minute film depicts a staged post-apocalyptic landscape where wildfires have ravaged the land. The sun becomes a metaphor of a nuclear reactor that destroys everything in its path. It is a symbol of the dual nature of nuclear power, a source of energy and also the tremendous capacity for destruction and catastrophic consequences.
Between 2016 and 2017, together with Offshore, they curated various group exhibitions at the Reformer Art gallery and the Basement 6 art space in Shanghai (China) and BAZAAAAR in Roublot hall in Fontenay-sous-Bois. Solo exhibitions include Left(L)overs, Robert Koepke Haus, Germany 2023; The blue hour, Kulturgut Poggenhagen, Germany 2023; Data Nudity, Kunstverein DIE H_LLE, Braunschweig 2021; Urban Reef, Galerie Brutal, Hannover 2020; FBI: Federal Brueau of investigation, Bazar Compatible Program, Shanghai.
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