Free exhibition, open during Alliance opening hours
Artistic performance by Nicolas Montgermont
Axis Mvndi is a device that sends radio waves in space in order to draw shapes at a cosmic scale. By playing on the movement of a dish antenna, ancient cosmological models are materialized into space and become autonomous shapes in infinite movement. Axis Mvndi proposes a theoretical and artistic shift on the use of the electromagnetic spectrum through the broadcasting of waves that will never be received. They are used for their greater specificity: their traveling at the speed of light.
We use these invisible waves all the time in our smartphones, with Wi-Fi, or in our contactless credit cards. But as our tools have become more complex, we have become detached from their inherent, almost mystical power, which is linked to their phenomenal speed. In Axis Mvndi, this characteristic is used to its full potential and set against the cultural backdrop of complete and coherent representations of the Universe.
A space documents the context of emergence and traces the history of the cosmological models produced by Axis Mvndi : paintings bringing together texts, diagrams and sketches are produced by the artist as a result of anthropological research.
the artist
Nicolas montgermont is a sound and radio artist who explores the physicality of waves in its different forms. For more than 15 years, he has been designing artistic devices that explore the poetic essence of waves: resonance in a volume, vibration of materials, richness of invisible radio landscapes, musicality of interferences, antenna sculpture, listening and broadcasting territory… and is currently developing a work on the links between radio-art and politics.