(Top left) Thu Van Tran's boat artwork. (Top right) Hoio-Samuel Herzog's blue cart. (Second row left) Peter Regli "Reality Hacking" land art. (Second row right) Peter Regli "Reality Hacking" land art. (Third row left) Simon Faithfull's "Ice Blink" video installation. (Third row right) Simon Faithfull's round window view. (Bottom left) Simon Faithfull's eight "Palm Pilot" sketches. (Bottom right) Gregory and Cyril Chapuisat's "XXXXX" installation photographed with flash.

The group exhibition "Experiences Insulaires" ran from March 30 to May 20 at the Ivry Contemporary Art Center. This thematic curation was a mutual exchange between the Credac Contemporary Art Center in Paris and a contemporary art space in Geneva, Switzerland. Claire Le Restif curated "Jericho Rose" in Geneva, while "Experiences Insulaires" was curated by Swiss artists Jean-Paul Felley and Olivier Kaeser.

The exhibition concept began with the architectural structure of the Credac center itself: a basement space with no windows, featuring geometric rooms, corridors, stairs, and corners resembling a maze. Originally intended as a cinema, the space is slightly sloped. In this environment completely isolated from the outside world, the curators imagined the spatial experience as a unique island, embodying an inner spiritual state deep within the metropolis. This dual concept of isolation and connection showcases literary imagination and metaphor.

Following this empty construction, the exhibition invited six young Swiss contemporary artists through installations, objects, light-and-shadow paintings, and video works intended to awaken the spirit of the space and an insular world at peace with the world. Notable are Gregory and Cyril Chapuisat (born 1972 and 1976 respectively), who created the environmental installation "XXXXX." In a vast, pitch-black space without lights, they constructed a large crystal hanging from the ceiling like an inverted iceberg. Viewers could only enter in the dark, feeling this unique sensation amidst uncertainty, dramatically introducing them to an insular experience of isolation, blending imagination, perception, environment, and psychological states.

Peter Regli (born 1959) develops his unique art through performance, participation, sculpture, and installation. Under the theme "Reality Hacking," he presented over a hundred slide projections documenting his construction of an island on Switzerland's scenic lakes. The circular and irregular island, 50 meters long, resembles Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty," developing an imaginary world of islands within nature and culture.

Hoio is an import company for products from Santa Lemusa Island in the Caribbean, authored by Samuel Herzog (born 1966). His artistic practice has long been built upon this fictional island. Here, he displayed a blue cart laden with Santa Lemusa products: juices, liqueurs, spices, palm products, rice, sugar, and more, neatly arranged in cart windows and boxes like an island market stall. This work blends object and installation, fiction and imagination, globalization and local chronicles, evoking the exoticism of South America.

Thu Van Tran (born 1979) is the only French artist and the youngest in this exhibition. Her work is based on personal and historical events (she is French-Vietnamese). She presented a wooden fishing boat floating in a vast, empty space, evoking the feeling of drifting on the open sea. The boat suggests travel near or far, inspiring infinite imagination and dreams, serving as a medium connecting the island to the world.

Simon Faithfull (born 1966) creates through sketching, video, action, and writing. His captivating "Ice Blink" video installation documents his 44-day Antarctic expedition from 2004 to 2005. Projected on a large screen, it shows scenes filmed on "Stremness Island" (east and west of Falkland), depicting abandoned whaling buildings now used by fur seals for shelter and recreation in the cold winter. It raises profound questions about natural ecology and human creation within the mysterious atmosphere of an alternative space. Another poetic video records views seen through the ship's porthole during these 44 days, showing the extraordinary changing atmospheres of the Weddell Sea. On another wall, a series of eight "Palm Pilot" sketches directly etched the Antarctic expedition imagery onto transparent acrylic panels, illuminated by fluorescent lights. Initially attracting viewers with white light, the images become clear upon closer inspection, achieving a perfect balance between sketch, light, object, and installation.