EVA Extra-Véhiculaires

"The series of photographs gathered in the pages of the book EVA concludes an artistic residency pursued between 2017 and 2018 at La Capsule in Le Bourget and was the subject of an exhibition entitled EVA at the Galerie du Centre André Malraux in spring 2019.

The personal involvement, availability and efficiency of Arnaud Lévénès, head of La Capsule, have largely contributed to allowing the present photographic investigation essay to find its way along with its material in the maze inspired by scientific research and its technological developments: the corridors of the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics (ISIR) where I was warmly welcomed and guided by Agnès Brami between the various laboratories where bio-mechanical interfaces are being developed to increase the natural capacities of the human body - or to replace them when they are partially or totally absent - and whose disturbing familiarity I tried to photograph; those no less friendly of the Institute of Genetic Diseases Imagine, where the research industry is working to understand and correct the various dysfunctions of metabolism by scrutinising the long rhyme sequence of nature's poem, and where microscopic photographs and 3D models served to illustrate the precious explanations of Sylvain Ernest and Audrey Desgrange, before taking their ungovernable forms into the space of a reverie outside the walls. It was at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Le Bourget that this exact reverie met the mythical forms of the great story of the conquest of space. Fortunately, the child was at work there with the artist, and the investigation did not disdain clues that a reasonable mistrust would perhaps have unnecessarily overlooked.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jacques Arnould at the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and discussing with him the ethical issues for which he is responsible. I asked him to extend our conversation with a text that can be found at the end of this catalogue under the title Appareillage.

Finally, I once again called on the decisive assistance of Denis Fernández Quintanilla to help me interpret the results of my photographic investigation and to prepare an account of it in all its various aspects and in all its details. On the occasion of their first exhibition, the talented Séverine Ballon performed Chant mécanique, an original creation for cello inspired by EVA's photographs.

Yves Trémorin