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Alex Ayed - Untitled (Beit el hmam II), 2023 - Statale SS242, Pontives

Alex Ayed, Untitled (Beit el hmam II), 2023. Clay, Olive Wood, Hay, Steel, Limewash. 280 x 107,5 x 118 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and ZERO…, Milan and Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

The Franco-Tunisian artist Alex Ayed currently lives and works at sea. His life embodies his way of understanding art, an itinerant practice that roots the conception of the work of art as much as possible in the territory in which it intervenes, with the aim of weaving new stories into the network of narratives already present. His works often give rise to unpredictable situations, beyond the artist’s control, such as Transumanza (2021), the title of which refers to the annual pilgrimage of shepherds, as practised in the Mediterranean for thousands of years. Prior to the opening of the exhibition, the gallery spaces hosted a flock of goats and chickens that interacted with works designed for them – such as birdfeeders and hay objects – leaving traces of their passage in the space once opened.

This lyrical and situationist approach to art is also to be found in Untitled (Beit el hmam), installed for The Parliament of Marmots in a grassy clearing at the edge of the highway near Pontives. The imposing sculpture, more than two metres high, is a dovecote made of olive wood, clay and straw and then covered with lime, in keeping with traditional North-African techniques. Traditionally, they were quite common in cities throughout the Mediterranean as well as in various parts of the world. The most interesting aspect for Ayed is that their nature is ambiguous. Built by humans to be inhabited by turtle doves, a seemingly caring gesture but at the same time pretentious, for however hospitable they might be, they convey the idea of domestication and a relationship of dominance. Ayed thus adopts the pigeon house from a metaphysical perspective, as one of the few spaces left within the confines of human settlements intended to accommodate the presence of animals. An encounter that in the artist’s vision confers great spiritual power to a space. (M.P.)

ALEX AYED

Alex Ayed (1989, Strasbourg, France) lives and works on a boat with which he sails across oceans and the Mediterranean. Through sculpture, painting, photography and sound, he uncovers the symbolism of the places he visits. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. His work was exhibited at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; The Intermission, Piraeus; Kunstverein Freiburg; Zero, Milan; B7L9, Tunis; IAIA, New York; Balice Hertling Gallery, Paris; MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art, Bologna; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; New Museum, New York; and Magasins Généraux, Paris.

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Alex Ayed - Untitled (Beit el hmam II), 2023 - Statale SS242, Pontives

Alex Ayed, Untitled (Beit el hmam II), 2023. Clay, Olive Wood, Hay, Steel, Limewash. 280 x 107,5 x 118 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and ZERO…, Milan and Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

The Franco-Tunisian artist Alex Ayed currently lives and works at sea. His life embodies his way of understanding art, an itinerant practice that roots the conception of the work of art as much as possible in the territory in which it intervenes, with the aim of weaving new stories into the network of narratives already present. His works often give rise to unpredictable situations, beyond the artist’s control, such as Transumanza (2021), the title of which refers to the annual pilgrimage of shepherds, as practised in the Mediterranean for thousands of years. Prior to the opening of the exhibition, the gallery spaces hosted a flock of goats and chickens that interacted with works designed for them – such as birdfeeders and hay objects – leaving traces of their passage in the space once opened.

This lyrical and situationist approach to art is also to be found in Untitled (Beit el hmam), installed for The Parliament of Marmots in a grassy clearing at the edge of the highway near Pontives. The imposing sculpture, more than two metres high, is a dovecote made of olive wood, clay and straw and then covered with lime, in keeping with traditional North-African techniques. Traditionally, they were quite common in cities throughout the Mediterranean as well as in various parts of the world. The most interesting aspect for Ayed is that their nature is ambiguous. Built by humans to be inhabited by turtle doves, a seemingly caring gesture but at the same time pretentious, for however hospitable they might be, they convey the idea of domestication and a relationship of dominance. Ayed thus adopts the pigeon house from a metaphysical perspective, as one of the few spaces left within the confines of human settlements intended to accommodate the presence of animals. An encounter that in the artist’s vision confers great spiritual power to a space. (M.P.)

ALEX AYED

Alex Ayed (1989, Strasbourg, France) lives and works on a boat with which he sails across oceans and the Mediterranean. Through sculpture, painting, photography and sound, he uncovers the symbolism of the places he visits. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. His work was exhibited at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; The Intermission, Piraeus; Kunstverein Freiburg; Zero, Milan; B7L9, Tunis; IAIA, New York; Balice Hertling Gallery, Paris; MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art, Bologna; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; New Museum, New York; and Magasins Généraux, Paris.