« POST NATURAL HISTORY: AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE »
by Vincent Fournier

Opening on Wednesday April 30th 2014, 6:30pm

POST NATURAL HISTORY: ARCHEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE

Post Natural History reinterprets the concept of a curiosity cabinet. Vincent Fournier presents new, futuristic species by bringing about a journey in time rather than in space. He creates beings that are reprogrammed by man to respond to the changing environment based on current research in the domain of synthetic biology and cybernetics.

This collection ‘of emerging species’ is presented in the form of encyclopaedic illustrations: an ibis with metal legs resistant to extreme temperatures; a dragonfly with a fragile glass abdomen incorporating a luminescent sensor measuring pollution levels; a beetle with GPS integrated into its metallic antenna...These mutant creatures are familiar yet strange.

Blending history and anticipation, memory and science fiction, Vincent Fournier’s poetic and sensitive bestiary questions our relationship with time and technology, man’s place in nature, natural evolution as well as in the sciences, dreams and the imagination… This work in progress is part of the wider perspective of a future encyclopaedia.

Vincent Fournier participated in the Vevey International Photo Award in 2013 organized by the Festival Images.

VINCENT FOURNIER

Vincent Fournier was born in 1970 and lives in Paris. After graduating with a sociology degree and a Masters in Visual Arts, he obtained a diploma from the National School of Photography in Arles in 1997. His works are regularly exhibited in international galleries, museums and festivals, such as the Rencontres d’Arles in 2012, the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam and the Centre Photographique de Genève in 2013.

‘I am always intrigued by the element of dream and mystery in scientific and technological research: observing the stars, travelling in space, producing living beings or re-programming them, reading thoughts and seeing the invisible..." Vincent Fournier’s images are a blend of Jules Verne and Jacques Tati, Charles Darwin and David Cronenberg, and experiment with the fictional and magnificent potential of certain forms of utopia.