GRATTER LA CROÛTE d’Eva Pelzer & Nathan Carême

Since 18 September, artists Eva Pelzer and Nathan Carême* have been working as a duo in the Boutique des Bains du Nord as part of the STOREFRONT residency organised by FRAC Bourgogne and ENSA Dijon.


Like termites, the two artists have built their cave from the inside. A room in the FRAC Bourgogne Boutique was covered from floor to ceiling. To do this, they had to find the right gesture with the palm of their hand, massaging the building, crushing each pellet until it had the velvety feel of petrified mould.
The further you go, the darker the space becomes. Is it a shelter, a sanctuary, a den? Is it an evocation of Plato's myth of the Cave? We wonder about the origin of this cave: was it dug by man to extract some precious minerals, or is it the result of a geological time when water dug its furrow?
In this fossilised space, cave-dwelling fauna and flora may have developed that have now disappeared. The two rooms are dotted with objects such as gurgling ceramics, an unearthed larval animal, and vials filled with a vital liquid. Finally, daylight shines through a stained glass window of fruit and vegetables.

Eva Pelzer and Nathan Carême's artistic project in the Boutique des Bains du Nord is an immersive experience somewhere between a cabinet of curiosities and an underground walk. Visitors are invited to enter a space from which all manner of concretions and artefacts emerge: manifestations of a hidden world regenerating beneath the crust.