Julian Charrière

A dazzling light shines through a rotating Fresnel lens in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, gigantic submerged glaciers tower above the viewer, and divers float seemingly weight­less in Mexican cenotes—the solo exhibi­tion Midnight Zone by the French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière (b. 1987) presents a fasci­na­ting inves­ti­ga­tion into the myste­rious world of water.

Julian Charrière’s multi­media works consist­ently combine art, environ­ment, and science. At the heart of the exhibi­tion is the most important element for life on Earth: water. It is the basis of our planet’s biosphere, the habitat of countless organisms and, at the same time, a highly contested resource. Thus, the exhibi­tion highlights not only the sensual and metapho­rical aspects associated with water but also a number of the political issues that surround it, such as water pollution and acidi­fi­ca­tion, the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps due to the human-induced climate catastrophe, or the threat to the seabed posed by deep-sea mining.

“Midnight zone,” the scien­tific term for the part of the ocean between 1,000 and 4,000 meters below the surface that is comple­tely devoid of light, lends the exhibi­tion its title and serves as its concep­tual point of departure. The video instal­la­tion of the same name shows rays of light trans­mitted by a turning Fresnel lens—once commonly used in lighthouses—as it is lowered into the jet-black water of the Pacific Sea. Swarms of various fish species are magically attracted to the light and circle the lens, revealing a wealth of lives in the process. It is a descent through which Charrière invites us to consider the rich biodi­ver­sity of places still largely unknown and the urgent need to protect them.

Julian Charrière: Midnight Zone is the largest solo show to date by the inter­na­tio­nally renowned artist. The exhibi­tion, realized in coope­ra­tion with the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switz­er­land, stages an immersive experi­ence through a sceno­graphy developed especially for the Kunst­mu­seum Wolfsburg, in which image, sound, and body merge. The exami­na­tion of the signi­fi­cance of water, oceans, and the biodi­ver­sity that occupies their depths can be encoun­tered in a multi­sen­sory way, mediated through the artist’s trans­for­ma­tive use of video, sound, sculpture, photo­graphy, and installation.

A scien­ti­fi­cally substan­tiated and richly illus­trated publi­ca­tion has been produced in close colla­bo­ra­tion with the artist to accompany the exhibi­tion. With essays by Stacy Alaimo, Rachel Carson, Susan Casey, Peter H. Gleick, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Amorina Kingdon, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Sara A. Rich, and Helen M. Rozwa­dowski, as well as an in-depth interview with Julian Charrière, conducted by Andreas Beitin and Roland Wetzel. (Edited by Andreas Beitin and Roland Wetzel, English, with German trans­la­tions via QR code), 272 pages, available in the museum shop and at kunstmuseum.ticketfritz.de for €45.

Curators
Andreas Beitin, Dino Steinhof 

Curatorial Assistant
Anne Rybka