Exhibition

Marguerite Humeau: WEEDS

21 Jun 2021 – 26 Jun 2021

Regular hours

Mon, 21 Jun
17:00 – 22:00
Tue, 22 Jun
11:00 – 19:00
Wed, 23 Jun
11:00 – 19:00
Thu, 24 Jun
11:00 – 19:00
Fri, 25 Jun
11:00 – 19:00
Sat, 26 Jun
11:00 – 19:00

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Swiss Church in London

London, United Kingdom

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  • Covent Garden
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What if extinct voices were brought back to life? How can we make silenced and invisible knowledge visible? The exhibition will present Marguerite Humeau's new sound piece Weeds, realised in collaboration with the musician Lafawndah in 2021.

About

WEEDS is a tribute to past and present women who have impacted the development of medicine but whose knowledge and names have been put aside from the official narrative. The sacredness of the church and the use of sound as an activator of ghosts from the past leads the audience into a meditative state.

Throughout history women have been midwives, pharmacists, doctors, botanists, and healers. They contributed to the development and research of medicine and they had an important role in their community. Nevertheless, many have been cast out of the official narrative of medical history. Their practices have often been associated with witchcraft and they were victims of the Witch Hunts, which raged in Europe between the 14th and the 19th century. A considerable body of knowledge surrounding plants and their healing effects has been lost.

Led by the repeated sound of a gong, a voice – musician Lafawndah – lists names of women and fragments of their history. Through the simple but caring act of naming them, Marguerite Humeau brings them back to the very centre, giving them a voice, a power, and a presence. Weeds is the result of an important work of investigation and research by the artist, typical of her creative process.

The acoustic quality of the Swiss church and its multi-layered infrastructure offers the possibility of a wide range of musical movement. With a surround sound system, Weeds will amplify the architecture of the church as a place to remember the living and connect with the deceased. Plunged into a meditative state, the audience will be invited to walk around and take the time to listen.

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22/06

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAM

Rendering the invisible visible, a series of conversations.

Join us for a series of conversations half online and hald at the church around “How to make the invisible visible?”, with Salomé Voegelin, Gina Buenfeld, Aliya Say and Rasheeqa Ahmad.

REGISTER : Please register here for both online and in person conversations. 

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How to connect to invisible knowledge? How can sound act as an activator of silenced voices? How can we create connections and find allies in the past? These are the questions raised by Marguerite Humeau’s piece that we wish to discuss with this series of conversations.

[ONLINE]
°4 pm
How to fill the present and address an empty past with sound as an activator of invisible presence?
With SALOME VOEGELIN

With the researcher and artist Salomé Voegelin, we will start from Marguerite Humeau’s sound piece WEEDS to discuss the sonic possibility to rethink normative narration. Alongside her practice as a teacher on sound at LCC and her multi-disciplinary curatorial approach, Salomé Voegelin dedicated a book to this question: Sonic Possible Worlds, re-edited in 2021.

°5 pm
How can we reflect on the paradox of the plant as both a universal symbol and the most fundamental yet misunderstood form of life on our planet?
With GINA BUENFELD-MURLEY

The curator Gina Buenfeld-Murley will give a 30 minutes talk followed by a discussion with the curators and the audience. We will share diverse cultural perspectives on plant intelligence, philosophy and history across culture and time. Her long term experience and research on traditional plant healing in Europe, Central and South America will serve as a strong base and resource of knowledge to open this discussion.

[AT THE SWISS CHURCH]
°7 pm
What role artistic practices play in keeping and sharing plant knowledge?
With ALIYA SAY

Starting from the practice of artists Hildegard von Bingen, Hilma Af Klint and Emma Kunz, all working with healing-spiritual-vegetal practices, the writer and researcher Aliya Say will reflect on how to keep and share plant knowledge that has been erased and what role artistic practices play in it. Aliya Say ongoing research is concerned with vegetal thinking, mystical experiences, and their overlap in the practice of women artists and mystics, historically and today.

°8 pm
How plant knowledge, healing practices and oral transmission can connect us intergenerationally? How can we re-valorise these marginalised practices?
With RASHEEQA AHMAD

Rasheeqa Ahmad is a herbalist, highly involved in finding ways to share and teach about herbal medicine with diverse communities, with projects such as the Community Apothecary. We will discuss with her the role of sharing plant knowledge as a way to create new forms of solidarity, listen to a richer mix of voices and re-valorise suppressed and marginalised world views and practices.

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This project has been made thanks to the support of Fluxus Art Project, d&b audiotechnik, Goldsmiths University & The Swiss Church, London.  

Graphism:  Alice Villiers

Sound Engineer: Grady Steele

Curators: Léonore Larrera & Marie de Ganay 

What to expect? Toggle

CuratorsToggle

Léonore Larrera

Marie de Ganay

Supported by

Goldsmiths, University of London

London, United Kingdom

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