Noémie Goudal: Tilt

The Dock, Leitrim, Ireland

Noémie Goudal constructs illusionistic interventions in the landscape, captured through photography, film and sound. Deploying scenography and staging devices, she expands photography beyond its conventional parameters into immersive installations, informed by her interest in paleoclimatology. While human temporality does not align with the deep time of geological processes, she seeks to visualise the effort that goes into making the landscape.

Created for the Prix Marcel Duchamp, Supra Strata (2024) is a single channel film projecting a flourishing ecosystem dissolving in an acid storm. The artist leaves visual clues or 'flaws' for the viewer that signal the trompe l’oeil construction; she does not use software to manipulate the image, but prefers physical, artisanal methods that play on perspectives. While Goudal’s work retraces the evolution of the landscape without humans, here her motivation shifts from the study of ancient climates to the discovery and formal classification of plastic, or ‘plastiglomerate’, among sedimentary rocks. Over the course of the film, her construction is revealed — a dazzling tragedy of the landscape.

Goudal’s Terrella sculptures (2023) draw on the history of Earth sciences and on significant theories about the Earth’s formation, from antiquity to the present day. Some of these theories turned out to be true, others false or still unresolvable. The term ‘terrella’, Latin for ‘little earth’, refers to a small ball serving as a model of our planet. The Terrella sculptures are a methodology for contemplating humanity's evolving understanding of the world's form and constant state of transformation. Using scenography techniques, the sculptures are interwoven with the artist’s now iconic photographic works of architectural constructions including Observatoires (2013-2014).

Finally, Rocks (2024) is a meditation on the vast timescales embedded in rock formations, highlighting the imperceptible processes that shape landscapes, from tectonic pressure to sedimentation. This projection onto print prompts reflection, once again, on the concept of deep time. Goudal's work transcends the physicality of materials, encouraging viewers to consider how these natural structures have formed and evolved. While we understand that rocks erode over time, in the moment, they seem enduring.

Tilt is curated by Mary Conlon and Linda Shevlin. The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Leitrim County Council.