Fuji

Fuji is a 14-minute audiovisual installation which is part of Joanie Lemercier’s volcano series. It combines a large scale hand-drawn landscape depicting Fujiyama, augmented by a layer of projected light.

The abstract narratives are inspired by the legend of Kaguya Hime, a folk-tale from the 10th-century and a key element in Japanese culture. It gives an imaginary and poetic vision of this story in an immersive environment.

You can learn more about the making of Fuji at https://joanielemercier.com/the-making-of-fuji/

The installation recreates an abstracted version of the story of princess Kaguya, or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. This is considered the oldest Japanese fictional narrative or folktale. By using illumination and motion as symbolic elements, the characters and emotional characteristics of the story are transformed into light.

For more on The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutter

Lemercier climbed Fujiyama before creating this project, describing the mountain as: “...an intangible monument to the glory of nature.”

Studio Lemercier is a artist studio co-directed by Joanie Lemercier and Juliette Bibasse.

Based in Brussels for 10 years, the studio team works primarily with light in space. Often projecting on unconventional surfaces such as water mist or custom built structures, their practice seeks to escape from the traditional constraints of the video screen. Much of the work is inspired by nature and reflects on the representation of the natural world through mathematics, science, and technology. Abstract environments rendered as refined grids, lines, shadows, and volumes give way to majestic landscapes assembled from the same minimalist forms.

This exploration of nature goes hand in hand with Joanie Lemercier’s personal commitment to environmental activism, which in turn informs the work of the studio. Studio Lemercier strives to produce ambitious installations which highlight how technological experimentation can remain conscious of environmental issues and prioritize alternative processes of art-making.

Over the last 20 years, Lemercier has worked on stage designs, architectural projections, and installations, collaborating with artists including Jay-Z, Flying Lotus and Portishead’s Adrian Utley.
His first monographic exhibition ‘Paisajes de Luz’ was presented in 2021 at Fundaćion Telefónica Madrid and has since been exhibited in Mexico City, Lima and Arequipa. Other notable solo projects include ‘Points de Vue’ at Contemporary Art Center Matmut and ‘Exhibit!’ at Le Tetris, France. Lemercier has exhibited in a number of institutions including Bozar Brussels, MAAT Lisbon and MUDAC Lausanne, art fairs such as Art Basel, Paris+ and SCOPE, and events such as Nuit Blanche Paris, Scopitone Nantes, Multiplica Luxembourg, and MUTEK Montreal.

Bibasse has been an artist producer and curator for over 10 years, notably as the international curator for STRP festival in Eindhoven, Art Souterrain in Montreal, and Llum in Barcelona. Since 2020, she has been directing and curating (Un)Holy Light for the city of Leuven. In 2019 she co-founded SALOON Brussels, an international network of women working in the art and is an active member of Belgium and France’s digital arts scenes.

For more information on Studio Lemercier’s current work, check out
https://joanielemercier.com/forces-into-forms/
https://joanielemercier.com/the-making-of-a-digital-panorama/

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