Nuit Blanche | The Eye of the Sun
The Eye of the Sun at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Nuit Blanche 2024, Paris.
“Our need for stimulation and information is insatiable. Curiosity is one of the most powerful and most commendable drives of human beings. Curiosity is also a disparaged and pernicious trait. It can, of course, be unhealthy, but it is also what drives us to discover the world and to meet others. Curiosity pushes us to explore, to investigate and to learn.” Ikse Maître
Exploring the Musée des Arts et Métiers
On 1 June 2024, as part of Nuit Blanche and echoing the exhibition Explorer l’infiniment…, the Musée des Arts et Métiers hosts The Eye of the Sun, a work by the artist Ikse Maître and the collective des Vues de l'esprit. This curious, solar experience can be discovered close to the oscillations of Foucault's pendulum, at the heart of the former church of Saint-Martin-des-Champs.
Throughout the 2023-2024 cultural season, the Musée des Arts et Métiers has explored exceptional scientific adventures at the heart of the exploration of the far reaches, from the infinitely small to the infinitely old. The Eye of the Sun closes this programme by staging our thirst for knowledge and for discovering the world that surrounds and encompasses us. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? In a surprising way, Ikse Maître and des Vues de l’esprit reverse the question: we no longer look at the sky for answers; now it is the star we revolve around that turns its eyes towards us and, intrigued, observes us.
Exploring in video
To extend the experience and go behind the scenes of The Eye of the Sun, three videos are on offer:
Dive into the heart of the construction process: follow the installation and setting up of the different elements of the work, up to the final assembly.
Enter the world of Ikse Maître and the collective des Vues de l’esprit. Discover the artistic, scientific and technological vision of the project.
The dismantling
Witness the conclusion of this artistic adventure.
About the work
The Eye of the Sun blends science, technique, imagination and reverie to focus on the particular relationship human beings have with the invisible side of the Sun. It is a gigantic eye whose behaviour resembles that of the human eye. Curious, the Eye follows visitors with its gaze as they arrive and come closer. This Eye intrigues. What drives it? What is it looking for? To what end? Why is it watching me? And the Eye keeps following us. Engaging, it shares its curiosity. It winks, closes its eyelid and shows the Sun in extreme ultraviolet. Facing this star that was watching us a moment ago, we see the invisible. Up close, we can touch its surface, feel its inner turmoil, trigger rare eruptions and make arcs of light spring up that connect us to one another. At several million degrees, the Sun is the original source of energy and life on our planet. The Eye of the Sun is an offbeat point of view, the gaze of the other, what we usually cannot see.
About the artists, the scientists and the museum
Artist and researcher, Ikse Maître relies on shifts in reality to question the relationships we have with the world around us. In 2014, he founded Le sas, a science-art-society group at Université Paris-Saclay dedicated to the research, design, production and dissemination of art-science works.
With the collective des Vues de l'esprit, he has led residencies at the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, at Université Paris-Saclay and at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris. He works with scientists and developers, technicians and sound designers, actors and dancers on collective works and performances.
[Concept] Ikse Maître
[Graphic and affective computing] Tim Schneider, Matthieu Courgeon
[Sound composition] Vincent Hulot
[Solar astrophysics] Frédéric Auchère, Frédéric Baudin, Éric Buchlin
[Sound spatialisation] David Poirier-Quinot
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is one of the oldest technical and industrial museums in the world; its history is closely linked to that of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam), of which it is a part. It holds an exceptional collection of some 80,000 objects and displays nearly 2,500 of them, reflecting the most varied facets of the history of science and technology.
Events around the Sun
Two events are organised to explore the mysteries of our Sun further.
On Saturday 1 June, during Nuit Blanche, join us for a fascinating walk on the solar corona with the astrophysicists Frédéric Baudin and Éric Buchlin of the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale.
Then, on Friday 7 June, for the museum's late opening, let your mind wander with Ikse Maître.
These two encounters will be moments of both wonder and learning: an invitation to dive into the secrets of our star.
Information
Temporary installation, 1 – 17 June 2024
Venue: Musée des Arts et Métiers - 60 rue Réaumur, 75003 Paris
Nuit Blanche opening hours: 7 pm – 1 am
Other days, museum opening hours:
- Tuesday to Thursday: 10 am – 6 pm
- Friday: 10 am – 9 pm
- Saturday and Sunday: 10 am – 6 pm
Free during Nuit Blanche and the Friday 7 June late opening - All audiences
Partners
The Eye of the Sun is produced by La métonymie at Le sas, in partnership with IAS, CNRS and Université Paris-Saclay, with the support of the Conseil départemental de l’Essonne and the Science et Société programme of La Diagonale Paris-Saclay.
Press contact
For the Musée des Arts et Métiers: presse@cnam.fr
For Le sas, Nicola Lorè - Communications officer, La métonymie - nicola.lore@e-sas.org
