{"id":592941,"date":"2026-07-19T03:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/592941\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T03:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:24:21","slug":"celeste-boursier-mougenot-composes-a-space-for-shared-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/592941\/","title":{"rendered":"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot composes a space for shared attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot makes movement the score<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/celeste-boursier-mougenot\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot<\/strong><\/a> is widely known for turning ordinary objects into unexpected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/musical-instruments\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>instruments<\/strong><\/a> and revealing the musical potential of everyday materials and situations. For \u2018points de suspension\u2019, presented at Frac Normandie in Caen as part of the Normandie Impressionniste Festival, the French artist\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/exhibitions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>exhibition<\/strong><\/a> brings together sound and movement, taking place in the cloister and galleries of a former seventeenth-century convent.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For \u2018envol\u00e9e\u2019, the artist installs a circular structure that recalls the bandstands, structures that once gave life to public gardens, at the center of the courtyard. Eight swings hang beneath antique church bells and invite the visitors to set them into motion. As the swings rise and fall, the bells follow their movement with shifting rhythms that are never repeated twice. Boursier-Mougenot creates the conditions for one to emerge collectively. The installation fully exists through the gestures of those who choose to participate, setting the conditions for strangers to perform alongside one another.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1199292 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot composes music through a ring of swings and bells - 1\" width=\"818\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/celeste-boursier-mougenot-music-ring-swings-bells-frac-normandie-caen-designboom-05.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot : points de suspension Exhibition view, Frac Normandie, Caen, France, 2026 \u00a9 Adagp, Paris 2026 | all images by Martin Argyroglo<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A centuries-old symbol of play finds new meaning<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The swing itself carries a long cultural history, appearing across civilizations as both ritual and recreation, from ancient Egypt to the ornamental gardens of seventeenth-century France. Associated with renewal, transition, and seasonal celebration, this nostalgic setting becomes, in this case, a device for rethinking how bodies inhabit public space. The familiar act of swinging no longer belongs to childhood alone; it becomes a way of synchronizing movement, sound, and attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beneath the installation extends \u2018plage\u2019, a 900-square-meter field of crushed glass whose shimmering surface recalls a crystalline body of water. Reflecting both light and movement, here, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/celesteboursiermougenot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">French artist<\/a><\/strong> C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot transforms the cloister into an ambiguous landscape that appears dry and liquid at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1199287 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot composes music through a ring of swings and bells - 2\" width=\"1800\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/celeste-boursier-mougenot-music-ring-swings-bells-frac-normandie-caen-designboom-1800.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>a playable musical installation of swings and bells<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An installation that invites people to linger together<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The experience continues indoors with \u2018cameraobscura\u2019, where Boursier-Mougenot expands the optical principle of the camera obscura to the scale of an exhibition space. The whole installation outside is projected upside down across the gallery, while the suspended swings invite visitors to pause beneath an inverted horizon. In this space, the sound generated in the courtyard becomes inseparable from vision, linking the two installations through a shared exploration of perception. The bells also shape the experience of the moving image, collapsing the boundaries between seeing and listening.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Throughout his practice, Boursier-Mougenot draws music from objects never intended to become instruments, revealing unexpected forms of resonance through everyday materials and situations. At Frac Normandie, his investigation encompasses the architecture and the people who temporarily occupy it. Rather than asking visitors to complete an artwork through interaction alone, \u2018points de suspension\u2019 offers a space where individual gestures accumulate into a shared experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition proposes another way of inhabiting public space, valuing curiosity and chance encounters, reminding us that a setting like that can create the conditions for collective imagination, inviting people to remain in a place a little longer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1199295 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot composes music through a ring of swings and bells - 3\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/celeste-boursier-mougenot-music-ring-swings-bells-frac-normandie-caen-designboom-08.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>wooden swings are suspended from a circular steel structure<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1199294 size-full lazyload\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot composes music through a ring of swings and bells - 4\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/celeste-boursier-mougenot-music-ring-swings-bells-frac-normandie-caen-designboom-07.jpg\"  data- loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>bronze bells ring through the movement of the swings<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot makes movement the score \u00a0 C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot is widely known for turning ordinary objects into unexpected&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,251240,366,18,117,966,19,9914,17,9351],"class_list":["post-592941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-celeste-boursier-mougenot","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-exhibitions","tag-ie","tag-interactive-installation","tag-ireland","tag-play"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116944507203162972","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}