Julie C. FORTIER - Le jour où les fleurs ont gelé, 2020

Julie C. FORTIER

Born in 1973 in Sherbrooke (Canada), lives and works in Rennes (France).

Since her beginnings in video and performance, Julie C.'s work has been a constant source of inspiration. Fortier records the passage of time through the highlighting of processes of erasure and recess. Since 2013, she has added to her working repertoire a research with smells and aromas that take the form of perfumes, installations and drawings or culinary and olfactory performances. The mnemic and affective power of smells changes the ways in which memory is brought into play in the representations and narratives she composes. This paradoxical aspect of an absence that is nonetheless present, invisible yet intimately penetrating captivates her.

The work for La Seine Musicale

Le jour où les fleurs ont gelé is a bouquet of seven metal ferns that unroll to reveal precious scented capsules made of glass and porous porcelain. Some of the molecules used in the composition of the fragrances come in the form of crystals. The idea is to compose simple chords of three or four molecules and make them crystallize on the surface of the glass like frost on a window in winter. Porcelain being porous, it allows the fragrances to filter gently. Contrary to the usual fugacity of perfume, the capsules try to tame this volatility and make it last as long as possible.

LE JOUR OÙ LES FLEURS ONT GELÉ, 2020
Olfactory installation, 7 capsules of glass and porous porcelain, painted steel structure
Metal structure design in collaboration with Patrick de Bruyn
Unique piece
Courtesy Luis Adelantado Gallery, Valencia