SEM-REV making waves at the Palais de Tokyo

In early 2019 the team at SEM-REV were asked to contribute to a work of art using the movements of a buoy installed on SEM-REV and subjected to wave action.

on February 25, 2019

The current season at the Palais de Tokyo features works by contemporary artists from 20 February to 12 May 2019.

One of the artists, Julius Von Bismarck, called on SEM-REV for his work entitled "Die Mimik der Thethys" (the expressions of Thethys).

The artist works on the human perception of natural phenomena, either by using highly technical approaches, or by simple site specific gestures.(...)“Die Mimik der Tethys” works like a barometer of nature’s moods. As a random alternation of moments of calm and violence, this hypnotic installation plunges the visitors into the heart of an immersive relationship with nature. Far from being idealised, it takes over the Palais de Tokyo and is unveiled in an extremely unstable way, a tireless heaving that reminds us of the tender osmosis that links us, just like our vain desire to control our environment, with the risk of utterly destroying it.

- Palais de Tokyo website


To reproduce these wave movements, a motion sensor was installed on one of the perimeter buoys on the SEM-REV test site. This collaboration has led to fruitful exchanges between the worlds of science and art: a first for the Centrale Nantes offshore test site.
 

Julius von Bismarck, "Die Mimik der Tethys", Palais de Tokyo (20.02.2019 – 12.05.2019)
Courtesy of the artist and Sies + Höke (Düsseldorf), Alexander Levy (Berlin), Marlborough Contemporary (London / New York)
Photo: André Morin

Published on February 25, 2019 Updated on March 19, 2021