This collection offered Seidel a wide palette of inspiration. In complex processes he fused analogue and digital techniques into large-scale »moving paintings«. These gestural hybrids are purely abstract and work to extend the belle époque architecture of the museum’s atrium (100 × 16 m), built in 1892. The energetic soundscape by composer Nikolai von Sallwitz emphasizes the acoustic properties of the architecture with minimal sound events echoing and dispersing throughout the building.

The French word »mue« refers in zoology primarily to the skin shed by certain animals or more generally to this process and period of moulting. Furthermore, it can refer to the human vocal change that occurs during puberty. These varied parts and procedures of transformation seemed apt for reflecting on the multi-layered historical sediments of the museum. Presented at the first Video Mapping Festival in Lille, the three-channel projection artwork adds a transitory layer to the extensive history of the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

MUE
Projection, FR 2018, Loop
100 × 16 m

Artwork: Robert Seidel
Music: Nikolai von Sallwitz
Location: Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille
Commission: Video Mapping Festival #1
March 23, 2018

Photography: Christian Seeling
Documentation Editor: Falk Müller
Production: Rencontres Audiovisuelles, DeVisu Laboratory, Arenberg Creative Mine
Commission: Video Mapping Festival, Palais des Beaux Arts Lille
Curator + Producer: Antoine Manier
Project Manager: Simon Le Guillou
Technical Production: Ludovic Burczykowski, Margaux Héaulme
L'hybride Team: Honorine Poisson, Carmen Borey, Chloé Rougier
DeVisu Laboratory: Daniel Schmitt, Marine Thébault, Anaïs Pogoda
Museum Production: Juliette Benoit, Régis Cotentin, Ingrid Wacheux