The Hour of the Cat
2021
Installation created for the solo exhibition ‘Though, all the room be motionless’
V2Vingt, Brussels
The visitor is given a lighter at the entrance.
They first encounter a fabric with silkscreened instructions in three languages.
They step into the empty exhibition room lit with bright neons, on the opposite wall a door gives access to an emptied out storage space, they walk through the room to reach it.
In this backstage space, a chair is placed in front of a window covered with a discreet blurring filter, two brass plates are held by thin steel rods sticking out of the wall. One holds incense pieces, the other a white powder which enables the incense to burn through. The smoke moves through the light, enters the body of the visitor.
As the visitor spends time there, the light in the exhibition room slowly shifts to a dimmed intensity.
They cross back to visit the rest of the exhibition, showing the works AND CARE OF THE DEAD and Rehearsal.
The title refers to the fact that amongst all the animals of the zodiac dividing the day into 12 segments, there is no hour of the cat, however, somewhere else and at another period, cat’s pupils where used to read time.
Silk screened text on cotton fabric by Chromodrome
Light installation realized by Quinten de Wilde and Pieter Verstraelen
Encense realized from makko, cypress and thyme by Anaïs Chabeur
Brass and steel shelves realized with Leander Schönweger
Credits : Laure Cottin Stefanelli