Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did, 2013

Installation view: Des Présents Inachevés, Les modules du Palais de Tokyo - 12th Art Biennale de Lyon, France, 2013

Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did presents architectural structures whose surface is gradually covered by patterns of decomposing matter. Inside a steel-and-glass showcase, the artist displays small bricks made of plaster, fructose and lactose, which are moistened with water from major international rivers (the Saône, the Nile, the Yangtze, the Euphrates, among others). Bacteria and mold progressively grow under the protection of the glass case. These constructions evoke mythological towers or architectural archetypes like the Tower of Babel. Through their rapid degradation, they seem to be part of history.

All works by Julian Charrière. Images: ©The Artist / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did VI, 2013. Installation view: Des Présents Inachevés, Les modules du Palais de Tokyo - 12th Art Biennale de Lyon, France, 2013
Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did II, 2013. Installation view: Des Présents Inachevés, Les modules du Palais de Tokyo - 12th Art Biennale de Lyon, France, 2013
Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did VII, Installation view: Des Présents Inachevés, Les modules du Palais de Tokyo - 12th Art Biennale de Lyon, France, 2013
Somehow, They Never Stop Doing What They Always Did, 2013. Installation view: The Figure in the Carpet, Bugada & Cargnel, Paris, France, 2014