In the exhibition Après la pluie, la boue, Christopher Varady-Szabo presents a monumental installation in the Grande Salle at the Darling Foundry. Created from organic materials including wood, earth, branches, water, and straw, these imposing minimalist forms draw inspiration from the pioneers of earthen architecture, such as the techniques of cob and wattle-and-daub. [RG1] The installation, inhabited by living, ever-changing forms, invites viewers to perceive the relationships between habitat and living organisms, to recall the essential principles of human survival, and to rediscover the joy of building with one’s own hands. This project highlights the hybrid nature of forms, the precariousness of our ecosystems, and the poetry of life in constant transformation.

For over thirty years, Christopher Varady-Szabo has been exploring, through sculpture and drawing, systems of life, instinctive architectures, and the interdependencies between species. [RG2] Deeply committed to issues concerning living beings and our relationship with the natural world, the artist draws on the nature of the Gaspé Peninsula as a defining source of inspiration. By combining modern, traditional, and ecological construction techniques in a highly personal language, he reactivates what he calls “primary space”—an instinctive way of being, free from complex technological processes, that allows us to reconnect with the essential sensations of life, animals, and insects.