Lente Passioni

Frac Corsica, Corte (FR), November 2022 – March 2023

In the exhibition Lente Passioni, curated by Fabien Danesi at Frac Corsica in Corte (FR), Pauline Curnier exhibits the films she has dedicated to religious processions – Sebastiano Blu (2018), Explosion Ma Baby (2016), Le Lente Passioni (2020) – and Fat to Ashes (2021), in which she interweaves a procession in honour of Saint Agatha with the Cologne carnival and the slaughter of a pig.
Each film is shown in a room dedicated to it and within original installations that, through church decor, voluptuous draperies, baloons and parts of inflatable dummies, refer to the religious, ritual and festive atmosphere of the films.

For the exhibition Pauline Curnier Jardin conceived a new work, 5′ 54″ 15 / 18′ 25″ 02 (Fat to Ashes), inspired by Fat to Ashes (2021).
The artist has created two majestic bas-reliefs from two images taken from the film: the first depicts Saint Agatha holding her hand to her breast and showing the marks of her martyrdom on it; the second depicts the slaughter of a pig, with the gash in its skin and the butcher’s hand in the foreground.
The ritual character of these images is accentuated by the structure on which the bas-reliefs rest: an ambiguous element, halfway between a chest, an altar and a processional object. Resting on this structure are procession candles blessed by a priest from Catania.
The work stands in the centre of a room and at its sides are two long church pews: the arrangement of the space once again refers to its ritual significance, between vigil, adoration of a sacred image or of a relic, and village feast.

Views of the exhibition Lente Passioni, Frac Corsica, Corte (FR)
Curated by Fabien Danesi
Photos: Léa Eouzan-Pieri
Courtesy Pauline Curnier Jardin, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam and ChertLüdde, Berlin