Julian Charrière – Midnight Zone

In the organizer's words:

In the middle of the Pacific deep sea, glistening light shines through a rotating Fresnel lens, gigantic submarine glaciers tower above the viewer and divers seem to float weightlessly in Mexican cenotes. The exhibition Midnight Zone by French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière (*1987) presents a fascinating exploration of the mysterious world of water in the large hall of the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.

Julian Charrière's multimedia works combine art, the environment and science. At the center of the exhibition is the most important element of earthly life: water. It is the basis of our planet's biosphere, the habitat of countless organisms and at the same time a hard-fought resource. In addition to the sensual and metaphorical levels associated with the element of water, the exhibition therefore also highlights a variety of political references, such as global water pollution and ocean acidification, the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps caused by the man-made climate catastrophe, or the threat to the seabed from deep-sea mining.

The "midnight zone" - which in science refers to the absolutely light-free area of the oceans at a depth of between 1,000 and 4,000 meters - is the focus of Charrière's current artistic work. The video that gives the show its title, for example, shows rays of light being directed into the black depths of the Pacific Ocean by a rotating Fresnel lens - originally developed for lighthouses. Swarms of different species of fish are magically attracted by the light and circle around the lens. In this way, Charrière reveals the astonishing wealth of life, even in these little-known zones, and at the same time draws attention to the region's need for protection.

Julian Charrière. Midnight Zone is the world-renowned artist's largest solo exhibition to date. The show, realized in cooperation with the Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland, creates an immersive experiential space in a scenography specially developed for the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, in which image, sound and body merge and the examination of the significance of water, oceans and the biodiversity in their depths can be experienced in an artistically transformed way in the form of video and sound works, sculptures, photographs and installations.

To accompany the exhibition, a scientifically based and richly illustrated publication has been produced in close collaboration with the artist. With texts by Stacy Alaimo, Rachel Carson, Susan Casey, Peter H. Gleick, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Amorina Kingdon, Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Sara A. Rich and Helen M. Rozwadowski as well as an extensive interview with Julian Charrière, conducted by Andreas Beitin and Roland Wetzel. (Edited by Andreas Beitin and Roland Wetzel, English, with German translations via QR code), 272 pages, available in the museum store and at kunstmuseum.ticketfritz.de for €45.