The exhibition Bels animal was born out of the desire to dialogue with emerging artists whose work questions the body and its material, as well as the partners they find in the person of the audience. If these subjects animate us all, each one treats them in his or her own way, with his or her own codes and the singularity of his or her own vision. Feÿ made it possible to take over a place, to invest it completely in order to weave a dialogue between these different universes and to make the visitor wander from one story to another. - Chloé Royer

The whole story begins with a body. It is no longer the one we know, with its familiar features and movements, the one we pass at the bend in the street and on which we sometimes turn around. No, here, the flesh is strange; it is gelatinous and translucent, covered with spots or mosaics. It contorts itself deliciously and deforms itself with horror. It tells us myths, rites, metamorphoses. These stories, too, have bodies. They have nerves that throb, bones that hold them. Aristotle was already concerned about their skeleton. In The Poetics, he reminds us that, to be successful, a fable must be constructed like a living organism: the "beautiful animal" whose various members form a harmonious whole. Using the philosopher's expression, the Feÿ 2019 exhibition presents other bodies and narratives, broken or corrupted: those invented by some fifteen visual artists from the emerging scene on the occasion of the festival. Responding to the invitation of the artist Chloé Royer, they have all conceived their pieces in relation to the space. In this castle-chemistry, itself a collage of different eras, hybrid creatures, opaque and sibylline worlds accumulate. Fantasy liquefies into weirdness: pastel-coloured membranes dance in a cold room, an astronomer perched on a tree prophesies dreams... Here, we are on a feminine island where hair whistles, there, humanoid furniture disturbs the gaze, triturates the perception. Through these mutating forms, Bels animal makes matter its beating heart: the works extend their arms to embrace the spectator, guide her or lose her in improbable scenarios and intimate legends. From the slumped armchair to the swallowed elixirs, it is her own body that they invite in turn. Far from the stunned gaze, they tempt and entice us, until they provoke an encounter. It is a question of taking our place within the story, and in the density. To make contact. - Salomé Burstein

Entitled "Bels animal," Feÿ 2019's art exhibition gathered up-and-coming European visual artists whose works evoke metamorphosed bodies altered by technology or contorted through mythological tales. Scattered here and there in the château's salons and outdoor areas, pieces by duos Julie Villard & Simon Brossard, Amélie Giacomini & Laura Sellies, the MORPH collective, Zsófia Keresztes, Alexandre Silberstein, and Chloé Royer created an ensemble of interwoven narratives.

Bels animal stemmed from the desire to create dialogue among artists whose works question materiality, including that of the human body and thus, often, of the spectator. All of us share these interests, but we all view them from a different perspective and with our own plastic language. This group show invited every participant to inhabit the space and explore its possibilities. The château then became the perfect landscape to weave a dialogue between these singular practices and to invite the visitor to wander from one story to another - Chloé Royer

Amélie Giacomini x Laura Sellies ©Romain_Darnaud

AMÉLIE GIACOMINI X LAURA SELLIES
Through two excerpts, the film Toutes ces filles couronnées de langues takes us to the untouchable island of Kyrra, where eighty-nine women have gathered to build a new society. There they develop an alphabet which, built from movement alone, allows gestures to give birth to words. The result is a silent language, reserving the voice for the harmonious or discordant depths of song, for those of the cry. To accompany it, the women made a panoply of instruments -- those that the exhibition Bels animal presents to the visitor of Feÿ 2019.

AMÉLIE GIACOMINI X LAURA SELLIES
Through two excerpts, the film All These Crowned Daughters of Languages transports us to the insoluble island of Kyrra, where 89 women have gathered to build a new society. They develop an alphabet that, built from movement alone, lets gestures give birth to words. The result is a mute language, reserving the voice for the harmonious or discordant depths of singing, or else for crying out. As accompaniment, the women made a variety of instruments, which the exhibition Bels animal presents to the visitors of Feÿ 2019.

Zsófia Keresztes ©Romain_Darnaud

ZSÓFIA KERESZTES
The two-headed creature created by Zsófia Keresztes for Feÿ was conceived as an empathic totem: while they turn their backs in perfect symmetry, these two tear-streaked faces cry the same sorrow. Reinterpreting the contemporary myth of the virtual friend, their sobs merge into a Siamese body. Like each of the monsters erected by the artist, it is clothed in a mosaic skin; it underlines the strangeness of a composite silhouette where masculine and feminine, radiance and melancholy meet.

ZSÓFIA KERESZTES
The two-headed creature created by Zsófia Keresztes on the occasion of Feÿ was conceived of as an empathic totem: if they turn their backs in perfect symmetry, these two faces crossed by tears mourn the same pain. Reinterpreting the contemporary myth of the virtual friend, their sobs merge into a Siamese body. Like every monster erected by the artist, this one is wearing a mosaic skin, which emphasizes the strangeness of a composite silhouette where masculine and feminine, radiance and melancholy meet.

MORPH ©Romain_Darnaud

MORPH
Conceived as an opera,We Couldn't Find the Door is a total work that the spectator walks through like a procession. Combining tapestry, furniture, sculpture, virtual reality and sound composition, it transforms the castle's salons into a baroque and surrealist interior. Inhabited by equivocal forms that whisper to our ears, this décor-tribute to the Rêve de Vénus (Dream of Venus) - a pavilion created by Salvador Dali for the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair - constructs an environment that destabilizes the senses and disturbs perception.

MORPH
Conceived as an opera, We Could not Find the Door is a Gesamtkunstwerk that the spectator goes through like a procession. Mixing tapestry, furniture, sculpture, virtual reality, and sound composition, it transforms the rooms of the castle into a baroque and surrealist interior. Inhabited by ambiguous forms that whisper in our ears, this decor--a tribute to the Dream of Venus Pavilion created by Salvador Dalí for the 1939-1940 New York World Exposition--creates an environment that destabilizes the senses and disrupts perception.

Chloé Royer ©Romain_Darnaud

CHLOÉ ROYER
Starting from the observation of the body envelope and the gestures of drawing, the Leftovers series transforms the line into sculpture to create strangely anatomical pieces, like shreds of flesh from an imagined creature. The Feÿ 2019 installation hangs these membranes from the ceiling and lets them float like skins in a tannery. At the same time, it transforms the space of the castle and the material that inhabits it, through a silicone where pigment meets transparency.

CHLOÉ ROYER
Part of the observation of the body and the gesture of drawing, the Leftovers series transforms the path into a sculpture to create pieces that are strangely anatomical, like fragments of the flesh of an imagined creature. The installation at Feÿ 2019 hung these membranes from the ceiling and let them float like skins in a tannery. The piece transformed the space of the château and the material that inhabited it through its use of silicone where the pigments become transparent.

Alexandre Silberstein ©Romain_Darnaud

ALEXANDRE SILBERSTEIN
It all starts with a shield, a precious talisman entrusted to the visitor; it is the first of the objects that Alexandre Silberstein has scattered here and there, in different corners of the forest. Inviting us to collect these objects through enigmatic encounters, Le Château plus haut que les nuages juggles music, performance and recycled paper sculptures to build a life-size narrative that looks like a treasure hunt.

ALEXANDRE SILBERSTEIN
Everything begins with a shield, a precious talisman given to the visitor--it is the first of the objects that Alexander Silberstein scattered here and there, in different corners of the forest. Inviting us to collect these objects following enigmatic encounters, The Castle Higher Than the Clouds juggles music, performance, and recycled-paper sculptures to create a life-sized narrative treasure hunt.

Julie Villard X Simon Brossard ©Romain_Darnaud

JULIE VILLARD X SIMON BROSSARD
We don't know from what soil these flowers could have grown: deforming a piece of playground furniture, Julie Villard and Simon Brossard's transgenic plants have put down their roots in the attic of the castle. They form the first piece of a journey that plunges the spectator into a universe of sensual and sickly forms, and leads him to the counter of It's Fantastic, a bar imagined by the two artists and drunk with cocktails by Nicolas Cruz Mermy.

JULIE VILLARD X SIMON BROSSARD
We do not know what land these flowers could grow from: deforming playground furniture, the transgenic plants of Julie Villard and Simon Brossard took root in the attic of the château. These works formed the first piece of a journey that plunged the viewer into a world of sensual and sickly forms, and led to the counter of It's Fantastic, a bar designed by the two artists and stocked with cocktails by Nicolas Cruz Mermy.

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