Cerith Wyn Evans Solo Exhibition "As if seeing in the manner of listening …hearing .As if looking"

Text/Photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang | Venue: Marian Goodman Gallery | Dates: June 6 – July 28

Cerith Wyn Evans (b. 1958), one of Britain’s most prestigious and representative contemporary artists, is a graduate of London’s Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Early on focused on experimental short films, since the 1990s he has explored the conceptual intersection of vision and hearing through cross-disciplinary integration of sound, light, text, and carved glass objects. I encountered his work two years ago at a collection exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton; his transparent glass tube carvings emitted crisp, subtle vibrations (music), creating an emotional experience that lingered between the visible and invisible, material and immaterial.

Seeing Cerith Wyn Evans’ first solo exhibition in Paris at Marian Goodman Gallery again, titled “As if seeing in the manner of listening …hearing .As if looking,” the space between visual and auditory senses is filled with emotion and imaginative potential, awakening human perceptual consciousness. This experience approaches synesthesia (a neurological phenomenon where some individuals systematically combine two or more senses, such as associating a sound or letter with a color) (Note).

In the main hall, two magnificent Oriental-style chandeliers hang from the ceiling (two meters high). Light flashes driven by a systematic program signal synchronized with the artist’s piano performance (duet), emitting a light piano vibration music. For three hours each day, the bright light and music of the chandeliers engage in rhythmic dialogue, creating a dramatic manifestation where one seems to see by listening and hear by looking.

The basement exhibition features a large-scale spatial installation combining listening and reading: fifteen pieces of transparent glass hang like a maze in the center, each equipped with a speaker component. The four walls are inscribed with sentences full of suspenseful wisdom in white neon lights. The speakers play sounds composed by the artist, and the light reflecting off the transparent glass creates a dizzying impression.

Evans’ works often borrow or appropriate literary or philosophical texts, using them out of context to express his insights and viewpoints at the time. These citations function like “ready-mades,” inviting viewers to face multiple interpretations under this hazy reference and reflection. The text for this installation comes from the free inspiration of French philosopher Michel Foucault:

“Gaseous illumination (...) systematically imposes anxiety without form. It does not reveal itself as centrifugal. It does not move toward the deepest secrets of life, but rather toward the imitation and transformation of the most obvious forms: every word is simultaneously stimulated and exhausted. And excluded from the possibility of having another meaning. This or that. Neither. Beyond this or nothing at all...” (Note).

In another enclosed small exhibition space, a sculpture constructed from a combination of thin transparent glass tubes hangs in mid-air. Through a systematic bellows mechanism blowing and sucking process, it becomes a musical automaton, emitting crisp, subtle, long flute-like sounds (music). This gentle, poetic atmosphere gives the audience a hallucinatory feeling.

The artist elaborated on his personal creative discourse and concepts in the press release, writing: “As if these works were invisible, non-spiritual? To some extent? The sound in the work: the chandelier is driven by signals generated by my piano playing (duet)... the glass speaker components reflect fragmented texts and provide accompaniment... the flute functions like a lonely, helpless automaton.” (Note).

Note - Press release for Cerith Wyn Evans’ solo exhibition “As if seeing in the manner of listening …hearing .As if looking”.