Homeostasis - Exhibition

Exploration of Resilience through the Exhibition "Homeostasis"

“Homeostasis: Any self-regulating process by which biological systems tend to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are optimal for survival. If homeostasis is successful, life continues; if unsuccessful, disaster or death ensues. The stability attained is actually a dynamic equilibrium, in which continuous change occurs yet relatively uniform conditions prevail.” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2024)

“Homeostasis: Any self-regulating process by which biological systems tend to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are optimal for survival. If homeostasis is successful, life continues; if unsuccessful, disaster or death ensues. The stability attained is actually a dynamic equilibrium, in which continuous change occurs yet relatively uniform conditions prevail.” (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2024)

Julio Artist-Run Space presents - Homeostasis - in collaboration with IESA Arts&Culture, taking place from April 4th to April 13th 2024, in the district of Belleville. Curated by our second and third year Bachelors of Arts Management students. 

The group exhibition explores themes of resilience through the works of Anaïs Gauthier, Joshua Merchan Rodriguez, Lyz Parayzo, and Christine Rebet. Systems and structures are analyzed through the “engrenage”, the individual gears or pieces, which contributes to the functioning of a larger entity – examining the dialogues, interdependence, friction, and the balance/unbalance between objects, humans, organisms and environments.

Through sculpture, installation, video and works on paper, the artists unify the exhibition under the overarching notion of a "homeostasis" perspective, framing it as a process of assimilation and adaptation. They explore how various entities, whether human or otherwise, navigate different environments and undergo adjustments to adapt to their surroundings. The artworks collectively challenge viewers to reflect on their own role and privilege amidst social, environmental and personal upheaval.

ANAÏS GAUTHIER

Anaïs Gauthier’s Alimentation is a part of a larger installation, Opération Stase, which was presented in 2023 at Les Ateliers Vortex (Dijon, France). Her organic yet industrial forms consider the fragility of equilibrium and care, of the body and the limits of the machine, between intimacy and industrial processes. The works are on a life-size scale, confronting the spectator with their own body within the space. Forms that echo sterile environments and industrial elements contrast with pink and red flesh tones, evoking the relationships between bodily autonomy, care and stasis. Through hybrid forms, Anaïs Gauthier’s work examines contradictory states of attraction and repulsion.

JOSHUA MERCHAN RODRIGUEZ

Joshua Merchan Rodriguez juxtaposes industrial and synthetic materials with natural ones, poetically examining the complex relationships between humans,nature, and history – specifically, the influence of colonial perspectives on these relationships which have shaped the present-day. Through sculpture, installation, video, and performance — plants, natural materials, and remnants of living beings are carefully assembled in dialogue with the synthetic — observing the intersections between what he calls historical, political, and poetic “knots”. Citing the commercialisation of the Coca leaf in the 18th century and his own vitamin D deficiency, Joshua Merchan Rodriguez highlights the manipulation and displacement of living or non-living matter.

LYZ PARAYZO

Lyz Parayzo contemplates power-structures through sharp-edged sculptures anddisruptive performances, instigating public debates about desire and violence – experiences which traverse queer and racialized bodies on a daily basis. Inherently autobiographical, her work highlights themes of adaptation and transformation of behavior, bodies, and socio-political dynamics. Through her perspective as a Brazilian trans woman, her practice challenges the violent exclusionary systems within society and the art world. Manipulating metal has been a therapeutic means to redistribute the violence that her trans-feminine body catalyzes in a cis-heteronormative society.