Noémie Goudal The Geometrical Determination of the Sunrise 10 July – 14 September 2014 The New Art Gallery Walsall is delighted to present the first exhibition in a public art gallery by Paris-based artist Noémie Goudal. Noémie Goudal is known for her large-format photographs, which are inspired by remote and isolated places such as islands, caves and deserted barns, the depths of the forest or expanse of the sea. Her photographs often involve the use of ‘backdrops’: images printed on paper, placed within a landscape and re-photographed by the artist. By merging two scenes within a single image, Goudal explores the relationship between reality and artifice, bringing into focus questions of truth, actuality and fiction in the photographic image. At once artificial and real, her ambiguous images leave space for the viewer’s imagination to come to the fore. The title, The Geometrical Determination of the Sunrise, refers to the history of architecture, specifically the way great buildings in the Archaic and Classical periods were constructed according to precise mathematical rules and the path of the sun. The earliest builders observed and worked in harmony with the sun – such a powerful natural force – using it to help them realise magnificent structures. Goudal’s new photographs and films consider the relationship between the earth and the sky, in particular the intersection between nature and the man-made. Observatoires shows concrete Brutalist structures – stairs, pyramids, domes – orientated towards the sky and seeming to emerge from a sandy shore or float in the sea. The artist’s Satellite images show military sound mirrors, which were built on the south and northeast coasts of England between 1916 and the early 1930s to provide early warning of enemy planes attacking from the sky, hence they became known as ‘listening ears’. Two related films commissioned by The New Art Gallery Walsall, Tanker and Diver, immerse the viewer in the depths of an oil tanker and in a vast mountain lake. Each film is diametrically opposed to the other: in relation to environment (man-made/natural), the light (darkness/daylight), and in action (industrial/spiritual). Considered together, the films respond and reflect upon one another and refer obliquely to issues of energy consumption and the impact of human actions on the natural environment. A new multi-panel installation, Study on Perspective I, invites the viewer to enter a cave-like room, while Ciels offers the possibility of escape from the gallery through a doorway into the sea. These works reflect the artist’s fascination with the notion of ‘entering and not entering’ a space. Through the illusion of three-dimensional space, Goudal suspends the viewer on the threshold of a new environment but prevents us from entering. The Geometrical Determination of the Sunrise has been produced in cooperation with Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, where the exhibition will tour in 2015. For further information about the work, pick up a free exhibition guide. A behind the scenes film, giving insight into the artist’s research and photoshoots, is being screened downstairs in the Resource Area. Observatoires, a new limited edition artist book featuring a text by Marta Gili, Director of Jeu de Paume, Paris, is available to buy in the Gallery shop priced £8.99.
Thanks to Paul Buret, Constance Coeurderoy, d’Amico International Shipping, Mark Darbyshire, Derwent London, Edel Assanti, Marion Duclos Mailaender, Rémi Faucheux, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Raphaele Godin, Gérard, Dominique and Anais Goudal, Irène Production, Laboratoire Cyclope, Batsheva Lazarus, Julien Malichier, Cécile Nédélec, Lucia Peluffo, Picto, Christine Raoult and the Prix HSBC Pour la Photographie team, Peter Russotti, Priscillia Saada, Fred Tribolet, Gregg Wilson.