Once again in 2024, we have welcomed three unique personalities – three artists with diverse backgrounds and practices – to create a collective exhibition in which their works respond to each other, anchored by a shared focus: the territory of the Île de Nantes, its memories, histories, and the desire to weave new ones.
This new Magic Carpets residency, Sunglasses When Cloudy, marks the final chapter of a three-year cycle – born out of our collaboration with the École des Beaux-Arts de Nantes. Over this period, we have brought together no fewer than nine artists and engaged with multiple communities from the area.
For the 2024 residency and exhibition, we invited artists Clara Baudry, Anaïs Lapel, and Miruna Gheordu – Miruna being proposed by our Polish partner, Wrocławski Instytut Kultury. Their different backgrounds and complementary practices formed the foundation of our reflections and selection process.
The encounter between Clara, Miruna, and Anaïs has led to an unprecedented artistic collaboration that bridges three distinct yet interconnected approaches – all focused on the Île de Nantes. Sound became the unifying thread for the three artists, each pushing the boundaries of their respective practices. From exploring the forgotten years of the Île de Nantes, to designing listening devices for personal narratives, and experimenting with sound performances in atypical locations, these three narratives – developed over six weeks – have now taken on a tangible form. Throughout their residency, the artists collaborated with a range of individuals who significantly contributed to the pieces showcased in this exhibition. Here, the creative process is as vital as the works themselves.
Clara Baudry – Nantes
Clara Baudry is a documentary filmmaker, video artist, and fine art photographer. After completing audiovisual school, she began her career as an editor and director in Paris. Now based in Nantes, her work shifts between documentary and visual arts. Clara’s practice uses reality as a framework where the uncertain, the unforeseen, and sometimes the accidental intervene. Through her lens, she fragments life’s material, probing the obvious and the factual to propose alternative readings. Her work examines bodies and identities in their interactions with environments and rituals – always from an intimate perspective.
Miruna Gheordu – Romania
Miruna obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in design and graphic arts in Poland and Romania. She is currently pursuing a PhD focused on club cultures and the vibratory dynamics of electronic dance performances. Confession plays a central role in her artistic work, which originates from questions she asks herself. Miruna’s practice revolves around memory, reality, presence, and dissonance – with an interdisciplinary approach spanning photography, installation, print, sound, and video.
Anaïs Lapel – Nantes
Anaïs Lapel is a visual artist and self-publisher. Born and raised in Verdun, in the Meuse region of France, she began her studies in Paris before enrolling in the Images Plurielles Imprimées program at ESA Le 75 in Brussels, where she graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree. She later moved to Nantes to pursue a master’s degree at the École des Beaux-Arts, earning her DNSEP in 2019. Since then, Anaïs has structured her practice around creative studio time, residencies in the region, and moments of co-creation and transmission.
THE HUT – Clara Baudry
THE HUT is a sound and video installation exploring the gestures of active listening and attentive observation. A wooden cube stands as a space within a space, with sound and video components acting as witnesses to movements outside the frame. As the cube transforms from a static object into an activated device, the installation invites viewers to reflect on social behaviours in the face of others’ distress.
By documenting simple, everyday gestures, THE HUT initiates a conversation about collective rituals and the creation of spaces for receiving and processing distress. This artistic project underscores the importance of shared practices in fostering connection and support.
Up Down Left Right – Miruna Gheordu
Miruna Gheordu’s project links sound, space, and movement within the urban landscape of the Île de Nantes. Drawing on her doctoral research into Yi-Fu Tuan’s concept of Space and Place, Miruna conducted a series of solo performances in five distinct locations, creating DJ sets for each space – recorded without an audience.
Each location was carefully chosen for its unique characteristics, initiating a dialogue on how electronic music transforms urban landscapes. The project investigates the sensory relationship between sound and space, emphasizing the structural and visual sensations elicited by electronic music.
en terrain désolé (de la jouissance de l’ennui) – Anaïs Lapel
en terrain désolé (de la jouissance de l’ennui) is a diptych comprising a sound piece and a publication. It reflects on the wasteland of the western Île de Nantes and the singular experiences tied to this liminal space. Featuring interviews with various protagonists of this territory, the sound piece reconstructs micro-stories that intertwine to shape a collective memory.
Themes of gentrification, experimental music, and the passage of time intersect with the sounds and memories of a once-vibrant space. The accompanying publication – developed with students from the École des Beaux-Arts – builds on archival material and opens a dialogue about how the present can reimagine and interact with the past.
Curatorial text by Josselin Couteau