Aude Pariset has hung two duvets of different sizes in the pavilion. They frame several images of cars in traffic jams: the image sections depict snaking lines of heavy traffic, blurrily and dully printed onto these fluffy surfaces that would normally envelop bodies and lull them to sleep. The cars are driving towards the horizon, perhaps toward the next summer holiday, I imagine, and so the reality of air particles and frustration promptly gives way to sentimental memories of long journeys. The traffic jam as a place of longing? Not surprising, when Pariset presents it here as if it were on an advertising banner. The desire to move forward coupled with simultaneous stagnation: all passengers separated into their own small sheet metal cells, but en route to a polluted future together. And on this subject: Did you know that nocturnal ejaculation is also referred to as pollution, as contamination? In English it is also called a “nocturnal emission,” while in French it is referred to as “pollution nocturne.” When I think of emissions, I immediately think of pollution. Of the diesel scandal and greenhouse gases. This corresponds with the fact that the quality and quantity of sperm has drastically decreased in the last fifty years, not least because of the increase in harmful environmental influences. The rate of reproduction and climate change are therefore both, in a sense, direct consequences of particle emissions into the environment. The human species is heading toward its demise, but not much else is on the move right now…

text: Elodie Evers

The exhibition is funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.