Noémie Goudal: The Story of Fixity
Artangel at Borough Yards, London, UK
The Story of Fixity is an ambitious new installation where an immersive three-channel film permeates into the space in which it is presented.
The element of water sits at the heart of this project and for the first time takes centre stage in the artist’s meticulous research.
Colourless, odourless and flavourless, this ubiquitous substance has many forms and functions. Goudal reflects on its paradoxical role in shaping our terrestrial landscapes; as a key transporter of minerals from one land to another, that form and nourish ecosystems; and as an essential element with the power to sustain and destroy life on earth.
I often wonder if our relationship to nature can only operate through the senses that we possess, particularly our visual perception. This questioning, and my research in hydrology and hydrogeology have led me to create The Story of Fixity. This project presents a desynchronised version of the water cycles I was exploring, where all the particles that water transports, from one land to another, are made visible through the use of hyper-colour.
– Noémie Goudal
Across three screens, Goudal pairs the cycles of water with the rhythms of day and night, bringing together universally understood rhythms with new scientific research.
Colour is a key component in Goudal’s latest exploration. The mesmerising triptych loops from a desaturated palette to vibrant hues and back again. Layers wash away to reveal new images, the visible flow evokes rivers and streams that flow through our planetary ecosystems, making and remaking landscapes.
Within the space, droplets descend from the ceiling and leak from the screen, slowly forming coloured pools at the feet of the audience.
Questioning our understanding of the natural world is a recurring theme in Goudal’s practice, and while the artist consistently puts nature in the frame, her intention is to make us aware that our perception and imagination of nature has been influenced by many forces.
Goudal’s most ambitious installation to date incorporates painting, photography and moving image, drawing together myriad protagonists and mediums that have collectively shaped the story of nature across centuries.
The title itself is an ironic nod to an impossible human endeavour - the attempt to fix a narrative around our changing and dynamically evolving environment.
The three films at the heart of The Story of Fixity show a photographic backdrop in constant flux. The landscape goes from night to day, questioning the unshakable 'world order’ created by sunrise and sunset. To this, I added another step, transforming the land into its ‘hypercoloured' self.The world is often perceived as a fixed entity with our borders and determined territories. What I have wanted to highlight through my installation is how we can re-integrate into our fixed or certain ‘world order’ - it’s movements and circulations, with its systems of interconnection such as the water cycles.
– Noémie Goudal
