Vincent Zucca works
Artists Statement
My work is art-research oriented, nourished by disciplines such as philosophy, social sciences, human sciences, art history and the study of ecosystems.
I revolve around two central themes: that of identity and image. More particularly, it is the phenomena where an erasure of individual identity and/or a disappearance through reproduction takes place that hold my attention.
I seek above all to produce meaning, to give materiality to a thought, so my creations result in varied proposals, not closed to any specific technique, but whose common denominator would be the use of a frugal, minimal, anti-spectacular, ordinary form, and a tendency to use common and readily available materials.
Furthermore, I am also developing formal research around what an anonymous form could be : an artistic form which claims to be an aesthetic and theoretical positioning, and which poses both the question of the social role of the artist and of the work of art in a commercial context and a regime of singularity.
Untitled, 2025, infrared photography.
Eikon, 2024. Immersive virtual reality environment. In collaboration with Etienne Muller.
Reconstruction of a dream in 3D images. Environment preview : https://youtu.be/iPxmguUiLYo
50 Copies of a Copy, 2023.
Series of photocopies on standard paper.
An analogue image is photocopied until its transformation into abstract patterns.
Mindgeek, 2024.
Video HD, stereo sound, 14 min.
The observation of glass architecture in Montreal serves as a starting point for thinking about today’s relationship with images.
Extract (03min 50 sec. ) :
https://youtu.be/_bEgcarSvGs
Landmarks, 2024.
Series From Square to Pixel
Print on paper, 160 cm x 120 cm.
This work deals with cartography, how the view on nature transformed until Earth itself becomes the map. The variety of materials from different periods also tell the evolution of how natural elements are framed, from romantic contemplation to satellite targets.
Geometry, 2022.
Series From Square to Pixel
Print on paper, 160 cm x 120 cm.
Drawing inspiration from educational sheets, this poster offers an open reflection on the geometric shape of the square as a common denominator in the history of technology and the history of art making.
Cosmos, 2022.
Serie From Square to Pixel
Print on paper, 160 cm x 120 cm.
Here, two aesthetics from image reproduction techniques come together : engraving and digital printing. The old image is taken from a work by Camille Flammarion (French astronomer and spiritualist, † 1925) which illustrates the legend of a pilgrim who discovered the gateway between the Earth and the Empyrean.
A mosaic, whose shapes evoke the digital world, replace the cosmic forms in the original woodcut.
Nuestra huerta (our vegetable garden), 2022.
Documentary photo series.
The Murcia region in Spain is nicknamed « the orchard of Europe » for its fruit production, which is exported all over the world. I discovered this region by chance at a time when France was grappling with an environmental scandal concerning the monopolisation of water resources from the agro-industry, receiving significant coverage in the media. This series brings together images taken during my explorations of an agricultural landscape sometimes marked by drought, sometimes by abundance.
Suspended Time, 2017.
Airplane seats, briefcase, audio system, modified headphones, variable dimensions, 41min. audio loop.
Dual-channel sound installation exploring the theme of travel through interviews in both languages of French expatriates living in Germany, and German expatriates living in France. The dialogues address several subjects such as geographical and cultural wanderings, attachment or detachment to a territory, the feeling of disorientation.
Highly Flammable, 2016.
Laser cut on paper, 50 x 70 cm.
A non-exhaustive list of auto-da-fé recorded from the existence of the paper medium to the present day constitutes the body of the text. From the hollowed letters only remain the charred aura of the characters that allow them to be read, just as the fire of a library leaves a void in the archives of knowledge.
The Suitors, 2015.
Site specific sound installation.
The national anthems of the candidate countries to enter the EU are played at high volume in different rooms of an abandoned house.
Documentation : https://youtu.be/NkpUNzOe-Ls
When I feel alone, I often question the meaning of my surrounding, 2014. Transparent vinyl, 25 x 350 cm. Public space intervention in Germany.
The phrase only becomes visible when the viewer stands at the exact angle where the light is refracted by the material. The work is conceived in a modest posture that incorporates in its form the possibility that its encounter with the viewer is left to chance or that it is never perceived.
Trauerzug (funeral convoy), 2014. Leporello, 11 x 15 cm (22 x 315 cm unfolded).
Series of images of black cars photographed in the streets of the german city of Wolfsburg, historic production site of the Volkswagen cars. The opening of the work produces a procession of vehicles that unfolds in space.
Heritage re-appropriation, 2014.
Postcards in free access, display rack, 142 x 40 cm.
A fragmented photograph of the spire of Rouen cathedral — which was made famous by Claude Monet’s paintings — printed as postcards. The space between the pictures on the display is also subtracted from the original file, so that all the maps render a truncated image of the building. Anyone seeking to collect the whole series will only get a fragmented view of the monument.
Intimate-Extimate, 2014.
Print on paper, 160 x 120 cm. Public space action.
A sentence reflecting an intimate thought written by hand is broadcast on advertising media. If the fragility and vulnerability expressed are annihilated by the mode of dissemination, the sentence becomes subjective again when read, the “I” of the statement becoming that of the reader.
Die Regimentstochter (after Tacita Dean), 2013.
Video, 3 min 15 sec.
This video dialogues with an edition by Tacita Dean compiling images of German booklets whose Nazi symbols have been removed. Here, hands operate cut-outs on theatre programs. The recessed parts allow the viewer to access the content. Then appear the names of German composers or operas whose title is related to the war.
https://youtu.be/vjSIHl2yO3c
In varieta concordia, 2013.
Print on polyester fabric, 100 x 150 cm.
This flag is made from the superposition of the uniform outlines of all the flags of the member countries of the U. E. This synthesis offers an equal representation of each country but it is in the same way a more confusing graphic.
Légion d’honneur, 2013. Performance.
Playing with the rituals of official protocols, passers-by encountered unexpectedly are invited to receive a badge bearing the image of the highest honorary distinction of the French State.
The Patriots, 2012.
Sound installation, variable size.
28 loudspeakers placed face to face play simultaneously in a loop the national anthem of each of the member countries of the European Union.
https://youtu.be/w5zsvluh5GY
Hard Rock Café, 2012. T-shirts, hangers, variable dimensions.
Series of T-Shirts of fictional restaurants of the Hard Rock Café franchise in cities in conflict (Damascus, Juba, Khartoum, Kabul, Tripoli, Aleppo, Islamabad, Baghdad...). The discrepancy between a symbol of formatted prosperity and a place associated with ruin and destruction evokes a possible prosperous past or a western owned globalized future.
River, 2012.
Postcard, 14,8 x 21 cm.
[NOUS means “us” , EUX means “them”]
Two parts of the same city or two different towns are separated by a river but connected by a bridge. Each riverbank becomes the mirror of the other — and therefore identical — by reflecting otherness. This proposal is a reflection on the notion of border and territoriality.
v.zucca@gmail.com
instagram : people_of_the_mirror
Links
https://rn13bis.fr/traverses/artistes/vincent-zucca
https://issuu.com/vincentzucca
https://independentresearcher.academia.edu/VincentZucca