'Solar Bodies', a Group Show Curated by Ø at Musee d'Orsay, Paris

A contemporary counterpoint to Baltic symbolism. 

The summer solstice is a key moment of earthly breathing, an instant to become aware of the cosmos that surrounds us and of bodies that inhabit it. 

Through a majority of newly produced works, the opulent ballroom of Musée d’Orsay becomes a dance floor for solar bodies. Choreographed by three artists from the Baltic scene, the space is punctuated by Pakui Hardware's biomorphic devices, Daiga Grantina’s anthropomorphic landscape, and a video on body heat by Young Girl Reading. The all project is connected by Norman Orro’s atomic graphic design. 

Although the invited artists are not directly inspired by the Symbolism of their predecessors, they nevertheless share a certain “subjective distortion” advocated by Jean Moréas in his “Manifesto of Symbolism” in 1886. Matter expands as much as time, which is apprehended in all its complexities. In a moment that seems to be as pivotal as troubling as the turn of the last century, the artists embrace a similar equivocal relation to their time; a sceptical attraction for a world where the division between nature and culture disappears, where human and non-human intertwine, synthetic and organic become one. But, far from the construction of a national identity supported by Baltic artists at the dawn of 20th century, the creators of SOLAR BODIES embody a fluid and moving identity, as elusive as the flames that spring from all sides during this solstice celebration.

A project organized by Ø for Musée d’Orsay. As part of the solstice celebration, parallel event of the exhibition “Wild souls. Symbolism in the Baltic States” (10.04 – 15.07.18)