PLASTIQUE FANTASTIQUEA journey through an ephemeral realm
Marco Canevacci and Yena Young
This extensive monograph, published by DCV, showcases for the first time a selection of projects from the past two decades. The catalogue features texts by Lidia Gasperoni, Mateo Feijóo, Daniel Felgendreher, and the authors.
In the wake of Frank Lloyd Wright’s pioneering work, visionary architects including Frei Otto and Buckminster Fuller established bubbles as a recognized artistic and architectonic form. The Berlin-based art duo Plastique Fantastique (Marco Canevacci and Yena Young) go one step further and harness them as a medium of temporary social interactions. The philosopher Vilém Flusser conceived of space in the digital universe as a network of relational settings in which humans can be in multiple places at one, as a “bubble that extends into the future.” Plastique Fantastique transform our urban and rural environments into laboratories for such spaces in which urgent social, political, and aesthetic questions are negotiated. Oversized translucent bubbles, traffic islands ringed by diaphanous tubes, giant lifebelts, air-filled sausages that the audience at a Peaches concert pass over their heads: Plastique Fantastique’s installations fuse art, performance, people, and architecture in a multisensory experience that blurs the conventional boundaries of art and focuses our attention on the larger bubble in which human existence is contained. Richly illustrated with exceptional photographs, this monograph is the first to document a representative selection from the duo’s projects of the past two decades.
DCV – Dr. Cantz'sche Verlagsgesellschaft, BERLIN
A special thanks to Martin Holz
www.dcv-books.com
RESONANCE OF THE INVISIBLE
2024, C-Mine, Genk, Belgium
Plastique Fantastique's new kinetic artwork explores the breathing interplay of air and movement in two adjacent spaces within the former coal mine in Genk.
The first empty room is filled with a transparent volume that expands and contracts in a continuous rhythm of inflation and deflation. As the object goes up and down, it reflects an imaginary lift, evoking the confluence of labor and the underground. The surroundings are filled and emptied in an ever-changing perspective where industrial echoes are controlled and amplified.
In the second room, an over-dimensional machine, once used to operate the lift, fills the space. To enhance its presence, it is covered by a lightweight, translucent pneumatic structure that rhythmically extends and compresses. As the installation starts to breathe, the room pulses, turning a once static piece of machinery into a dynamic entity.
Both spaces, orchestrated by an auditory landscape, resonate with the rubbing melodies of the post-organic mine.
RESONANCE OF THE INVISIBLE
A Plastique Fantastique project
Marco Canevacci and Yena Young
With the collaboration of Lucas Sere Peltzer
ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS EXHIBITION
22 June – 15 September 2024, C-Mine, Genk, Belgium
Curator: Laurens Mariën
Video and editing: Lucas Sere Peltzer
Acoustic Consultant: Misha MacLaren
Music: Skeletal Structures, Mika Björklund, 2005. CC BY-NC-ND
Special thanks to: Marco Barotti, Guy Stefanou, Carsten Reith and the amazing team of C-Mine
An (in)visible pavilion
TREES & TRACES
An (in)visible pavilion
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Songhyeon Green Plaza / Songhyeon Dong, Seoul, Korea
SEOUL BIENNALE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
In the heart of Seoul, right beside the historic Joseon Dynasty palace, an emblematic space emerges from the ground. The location of Songhyeon Dong carries a rich and varied history, with changing uses and owners over time. The (in)visible pavilion presents contrasting perspectives: reflecting on the outside, while revealing transparency within. It acts as a temporal connector, transcending the boundaries of time for the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
Inspired by the site's intricate history, the artists embarked on a quest to discover the relics hidden beneath the soil. During their April 2023 site visit, they unearthed several artifacts, now exhibited along the installation's earthen wall. An immersive soundscape echoes the long-vanished pine forest, once believed to channel energy towards the Gyeongbokgung palace.
TREES & TRACES engages visitors on multiple sensory levels, inviting them to explore and reflect on the complex history of the Songhyeon Green Plaza. The installation, both futuristic and archaic, blurs the boundaries between past and present, reality and imagination. This interplay of acoustic memories, visual perceptions, and tactile sensations weaves a captivating narrative that draws people into an immediate and enigmatic encounter with the site's heritage.
TREES & TRACESAn (in)visible pavilion
A Plastique Fantastique project, Marco Canevacci and Yena Young
Team: Pihla Pellinen, Sebastian Podesta, Lucas Sere Peltzer, Erick Montefort
Curator: Sara Kim
Assistant curator: Yong Jin Cho
Landscape architecture: Young-sung Jeon
Soundscape: Marco Barotti (assistant: Misha MacLaren)
Special thanks to: Anna Anderegg
Technical sponsor: ARRI Lighting Solutions
The 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism
RINGdeLUXE is an in situ installation that surrounds the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor footbridge in Paris on the occasion of Nuit Blanche 2023. This alliance connects the two shores as much as it evokes the inseparable relationship between the city, its river and the crossing inhabitant. The monumental structure awakens the personifications of the city, the Parisian allegories and the river, both divinities united during the night.
Artistic direction: Kitty Hartl
Production: Eva Albarran SARL
Direction of Cultural Affairs of the City of Paris
Many thanks to:
Tatiana Titli, Lola Majzels, Virginie Roques, Marie Gautier, Eric Fargnier, Frederic Peyrat / Ze-com
Music (video)
Artur Majewski (cornet) and Jan Słowiński (drums)
SŁOMA - Fifth - 2022
Editing (video)
Lucas Sere Peltzer
© Plastique Fantastique, RINGdeLUXE, - Nuit Blanche 2023, City of Paris, Paris, 2023
ΘΟΛΟΣ – THOLOS
ΘΟΛΟΣ – THOLOS
THOLOS - the circular construction in ancient Greece - has been reimagined by Plastique Fantastique to achieve a metaphysical experience. This reinterpretation challenges the notion of permanence in contemporary times, aspiring to transient ubiquity by juxtaposing weighty stone structures with pneumatic architecture. As visitors step into the mirrored structure, the undulating inflation of columns creates a distortion of their reflections, inviting them on a journey through replicated, multidimensional visual realms. At the heart of this ensemble, a black sphere hovers, emitting vibrations and a profound soundscape, intriguingly challenging perceptions of geometry and gravity.
Pop Air exhibition
Superstudio, Milan
December 23rd - February 12th 2023
Concept:
Plastique Fantastique
Marco Canevacci and Yena Young
Plastique Fantastique team:
Teresa Caputo
Xueqi Huangfu
Max Koeppel
Cora Röschlein
Special thanks:
The Balloon Museum Team