+ - + explores the process of artistic creation by looking at the traces that the artist leaves behind while performing it. The work proposes to reintroduce the act of creation within the exhibition space and transform its clean and neutral environment into the unique atmosphere of the artist studio with its myriad of materials, textures and smells while reconnecting each work with the material used to make it.

 

Throughout the performance, the artist progressively added residues of material around Ossip Zadkine's works - wood chips spreaded around each wood sculpture while shattered marble scattered around the marble pieces. Beyond its visual dimension, the work aims at looking at the other senses engaged it in the making of a work of art. Kosmatopoulos collaborated with Antoine Maisondieu, a professional perfumer to creates an interpretation of the scent of each material present in the exhibition. During the performance, she used these fragrances to accentuate the smell of the pieces of material she progressively added around the sculptures.

The performance celebrates what has been removed - the negative space, the left-over matter, the unused material - by reconnecting it to the artworks presented in the museum. 
Wood shavings, marble powder, debris of plaster, pieces of bronze ... accumulate in successive layers during the evening while their smells mix, gradually bringing back the atmosphere of the artist studio at the center of the exhibition space.

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The performance was commissioned by the Zadkine Museum in the context of their exhibition "The instinct of the Matter" and curated by Noëlle Chabert and Azad Asifovich. It was created with the support of Givaudan.

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