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Josèfa Ntjam
Plastic artist, performer, writer
November 4th - December 12th, 2021
Mélas de Saturne
JOSÈFA NTJAM & SEAN HART
- New Media
- Performing Arts
- Visual Arts
- Los Angeles
“My work focuses on the concept of fluidity, linking biology to mythology and science fiction in an effort to deconstruct hegemonic discourses and concepts of origin and authenticity.”
My work focuses on the concept of fluidity, linking biology to mythology and science fiction in an effort to deconstruct hegemonic discourses and concepts of origin and authenticity, using hybrid forms. Underwater plants and creatures, mythical bodies, or constantly evolving microorganisms–my images, sculptures, and performances are always situated in an ‘in-between’. In my work I use techniques that combine a variety of media, including videos, installations, sculptures, performances, photomontages, and sound, to explore major themes such as aquatic imagery. I studied at the Bourges School of Fine Arts, at Paris-Cergy, and at École Supérieure d’Arts et des Cultures (ISAC) in Dakar. Both video and photomontage will feature strongly in my work during my Los Angeles residency, and I will attempt to nudge digital images towards XR.
Born in Metz (France) in 1992, Josèfa Ntjam is a plastic artist, performer, and writer. She has contributed to many international group exhibitions, including Cairotronica (Cairo International Electronic and New Media Arts Symposium, 2021) and the 15th Lyon Biennale (MAC Lyon, 2019). Her works include “Anticorps” at Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2020), “Paysage alentour” at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2020) and “Feminism, Gender, Resistance – Act 3” at Arnolfini (Bristol, 2019). Her work was also featured in “EUROPA, Oxalá” at the Africamuseum (Belgium), Mucem (Marseille, France), and Centro Internacional das Artes José de Guimarães (Portugal) in 2021, and in “MEMORIA: récits d’une autre histoire” at Frac Nouvelle-Aquitaine MÉCA (Bordeaux, France). Her first solo exhibition was held at Nicoletti (London) in 2021.
This residency allowed me to engage with partners who work on the development of augmented images, thus giving me the chance to travel through the digital landscapes that I am already developing (videos, photomontages).
I have begun working on images of plants viewed through a microscope and I met partners who are in the process of developing advanced image magnification and scanning techniques. The idea was to imagine the journey of a character that undergoes changes while meandering through a digital landscape seen through a microscope and reworked in 3D animation. Masks, talismans, and mythologies from the African continent enhanced this voyage of discovery.
My video contributes to the process of digital image-making that I have been developing for years, a logical continuation of the photomontages, archives, and scans of molecular landscapes where family archives and great political struggles intersect.
My L.A. residency gave me the opportunity to visit companies that develop cutting-edge technologies, such as CNIS, which uses microscopes capable of analyzing objects ranging in size from 10 to 1,500 µm. In addition, the strong presence of 3D animation and XR studios helped me create the interaction I seek between my graphic universe and the viewer. I explored the possibilities with apps such as Snapchat, or at Art Reality Studio, which specializes in VR. Meeting Caltech researchers allowed me to open up discussions about my approach and their publications, in order to better understand their research process. This residency was also an opportunity to enter into dialogue with the local artistic scene, especially poetic and musical influences, such as Dublab Radio.
In partnership with
Art Explora
The brainchild of entrepreneur and philanthropist Frédéric Jousset, the Art Explora Foundation, which launched in November 2019, aims to close the cultural divide through a series of initiatives in France and abroad, drawing on new technologies and mobile systems open to everyone. It seeks to connect works with their audiences and to support new creation and innovation. The Foundation is co-curating eight residencies for the inaugural season of Villa Albertine.
Palais de Tokyo
Europe’s largest contemporary art centre, the Palais de Tokyo is home to an exceptional, multisensorial and boundary-defying experience of artistic creation that is infused with the questions that shape our contemporary world. The Palais de Tokyo serves as an engaged and accessible space of reflection, where dreams and imagination develop into curiosity and awareness, where contemplation and escapism stimulate creativity and knowledge, and where artistic inclusivity fuels a process of individual and collective transformation.
