AGORIA { Le Code d’Orsay } · Digital Art
Presentation of two pieces
Sébastien Devaud, known as Agoria, is a digital artist whose works marry physical with virtual, living with cryptic. Agoria is now one of the most active artists in the emerging Web3 world. His entire artistic practice revolves around biological generative art, meaning the creation of works using algorithms, artificial intelligence and data from the living world. He works with scientists to design works that combine art, music, the Metaverse and science, with the aim of bringing the living world into the “blockchain”.
For several years, a unique artistic universe has supported creation from Web3, a new online ecosystem based on the blockchain*. This creative space harbours a real community that resonates with museum establishments such as the Musée d’Orsay. The 19th century saw the birth of modernity and audacity, but also that of critical confrontations - and one of these was impressionism. This is why the Musée d’Orsay wishes to explore the connection between the emergence of this experimental art and its collections.
As part of this invitation entitled {Le code d’Orsay}, Agoria presents two works at the museum that resonate with the collections and are developed on the Tezos blockchain. The first, Σ Lumina, with a highly poetic, participative and experimental dimension, and a second Interpretation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae of The Painter's Studio by Gustave Courbet which very closely links the respective worlds of art and science. This connection is at the heart of the artist’s approach, wishing to show
that the cryptic and digital worlds are inseparable from the physical and living worlds. This pathway between digital art and science will be discussed on 22 February at a conference given by of the project's participants.
Lastly, Agoria created a musical piece in tribute to the Musée d’Orsay, which will be playing at the museum as a preview, beginning 13 February, then revealed on 23 February at the artist’s DJ Set in the museum’s nave.
Agoria and the artist Johan Lescure created {Σ LUMINA}. This sculpture paves towards digital works of art, in which the visitor takes part by blowing. Its shadow offers up a QR code granting access to digital works of art that evolve according to how each visitor blows a breath of air. These digital pieces are created from a selection of masterpieces from the museum’s collections, chosen by the two artists. In concrete terms, the light projected on the sculpture periodically generates a QR code on the ground. After scanning it, the visitor can activate the digital work of art by blowing on the microphone on their smartphone. This breath, a vital gesture and specific to each individual, will transform the digital work in a unique way. Each visitor can take it with them and keep the memory by “minting” it, meaning by saving it as an NFT using the Web3 process known as “live minting”. These works exist on the Tezos blockchain and are created in collaboration with fx(hash), an open platform dedicated to generative art, and the open-sourced Feral File app, which provides dynamic ways to experience, collect, and engage with digital art. A poetic and fun experience, but also a technological first.
Agoria and Johan Lescure will create between four and seven original works inspired by works generated by visitors. These works will be included in a sale whose profits will be donated to the museum..
- Auteurs
- Agoria, digital artist, DJ, composer and music producer ;
- Johan Lescure, artist.
- Selection of works at the Musée d’Orsay
- William Bouguereau, The Oreads, 1902
- Jules Breton, Le Soir, 1860
- Gustave Caillebotte, Le Nageur, 1877
- Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875
- Edgar Degas, Le Foyer de la danse à l'Opéra de la rue Le Peletier, 1872
- Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, La Femme à la médaille, 1896
- Léon Lhermitte, The Harvesters' Pay, 1882
- Jean-François Millet, The Gleaners, 1857
- Claude Monet, La Rue Montorgueil, à Paris. Fête du 30 juin 1878
- Auguste Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876
- Jozsef Rippl-Ronai, Un parc la nuit, between 1892 and 1895
- Marcellin Varcollier, Caserne des Célestins à Paris, vue prise à vol d'oiseau, 1877
- Antoine Vollon, Falaise, circa 1870
In collaboration with scientists Nicolas Desprat, Jean-Baptiste Boulé, Manuel Théry and Julien Mozziconacci, Agoria invites us to discover an “Interpretation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae of The Painter's Studio by Gustave Courbet”. This creation considers the topic of memory and transmission, the result of a work of curation and retranscription of a biological yeast growing experiment (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).
The conditions for growing the yeast mimic the great historic events that took place during the painter’s life. The data resulting from the experiment are used to enhance The Painter's Studio. The digital piece breathes life into Gustave Courbet’s painting, revealing its living nature.
- Authors
- Nicolas Desprat, Lecturer at Université Paris Cité, affiliated with the Laboratoire de Physique de l'École Normale Supérieure (LPENS) ;
- Jean-Baptiste Boulé, CNRS Research Director and Director of the Structure and Instability of Genomes laboratory at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris ;
- Manuel Théry, CEA researcher and instructor in biophysics at Ecole de Physique et Chimie Industrielles in Paris ;
- Julien Mozziconacci, Professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and coordinator of the analysis division ;
- Agoria.
Curatorship
- Christophe Leribault, President of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie ;
- Virginie Donzeaud, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie.
With the generous support of
The exhibition is now over.
See the whole program
