<p>The French artist plunges us into the heart of his latest film, presented this fall at the Collège des Bernardins</p>

As told to Matthieu Jacquet

One Work: Anima by Laurent Grasso

<p>‘I was invited by the Collège des Bernardins [in Paris] to present an exhibition as part of its Laudato si’ chair, which is devoted to ecology and led by the environment historian Grégory Quenet, with whom I have already worked on several projects. Although the whole exhibition resonates with the building and its architecture, my film <em style="background-color: initial;">Anima</em> [2022] is its anchor point. While carrying out scientific and geobiological research on the “critical zone” – a term used to describe the Earth’s outermost layer, from rocks to the atmosphere – I became interested in a particular place, Mont Sainte-Odile. An 11km-long pagan wall was discovered in the heart of the woods that encircle this peak located in Alsace, France, not far from the region where I grew up. Over the centuries, all of the uncertainty around the history of this edifice has spawned a number of beliefs and rituals that inspired me to make a video.</p>

<p>‘Over the course of 15 minutes, we see a man wander alongside the wall and have several encounters – with individuals investigating the vibrations of the area, a fox that quickly passes by, sparks of fire that appear in the trees, and clouds floating in the clearings. All of these elements compose a dreamlike, wordless fiction where the human, the animal, and the vegetal, the living and the non-living, meet on the same plane in a new ecosystem inhabited by the stories of this mystery-filled site. As with my other films, this work does not follow a linear path. The camera slowly follows the character’s onward movement, to a soundtrack composed by Warren Ellis, the film’s hypnotic editing plunging the viewer into a labyrinthine journey that starts in a coniferous forest and gradually immerses us in an imaginary realm.</p>

<p>‘The film is entitled <em style="background-color: initial;">Anima</em>, alluding to the first breath that runs through all of the elements gathered here as a common, intangible spirit. As with the other projects that Grégory Quenet has acted on as an advisor and connected me with his network of researchers for, this piece occasioned many new encounters and field studies – yet, for all that, the work is never used to illustrate the theory. Rather, I seek to mobilize scientific and parascientific knowledge to offer an open-ended experience whose particularity will ideally captivate the viewer and make them think. By projecting the film onto an LED screen in the final room of the exhibition at the Collège des Bernardins, it will take on a sculptural dimension. For me, the natural setting where the film was shot resonates in the forest of columns in the historic Cistercian building of the college, where I will also hang paintings that reference different elements present in the video.</p>

<p>‘As an artist, my main aim is to invent “machines” through which we can look at the world in new and poetic ways. Obviously the current political and environmental context permeates all of my works. After completing many projects around the world, including in Australia and Japan, <em>Anima</em> has allowed me to return to a more local scale, where it was also possible to bring forth a world that strikes the public as something they have never seen before. That is the point of such a film – to start from the concrete as a way of creating a fictional capsule that is open to all interpretations. In this piece, the viewer can find their way and project themselves as they please, unfettered by an overly direct or unambiguous message that would constrain their reading.’</p>
<p>Matthieu Jacquet is a journalist and art critic based in Paris. He writes about art and fashion for <em>Numéro </em>and <em>Numéro art</em>.</p>
<p>English translation: Jacob Bromberg</p>
<p>Laurent Grasso<br>« Anima »<br>October 14, 2022 – February 18, 2023<br>Collège des Bernardins, Paris</p>
<p>All photos and videos: Laurent Grasso, <em>Anima</em>, 2022, HR film (in progress). Soundtrack: Warren Ellis.&nbsp;Courtesy of&nbsp;Laurent Grasso and&nbsp;ADAGP, Paris, 2022.</p>

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