In nature nothing exists alone - Claudia Comte

Hypermaremma is pleased to present, in collaboration with CURA., IN NATURE NOTHING EXISTS ALONE, the latest environmental work by Claudia Comte. Spanning over one hundred meters in length, it represents her most extended site-specific installation of this body of work yet. Entirely composed of pine trunks from Monte Amiata – according to the selective thinning cycle of forests in order to regenerate themselves on a controlled basis – Comte employs a natural material to convey a message that emphasises the origins of the territory by quoting a phrase from the American biologist and scientist Rachel Carson. In her essay “Silent Spring” (1962), Carson anticipated some of the most serious matters related to the environment and the sustainability of the Earth ecosystem, stressing the responsibility of human beings in their being a tyrant over the planet and its living beings, and focusing mainly against DDT and pesticide abuse.

With this intervention, Claudia Comte thus intends to encourage the viewer to trigger a consideration on human beings’ relationship with nature and the planet’s life cycle, where everything is connected in a perfect composition.

This work is among the most imposing environmental installations that the artist creates to investigate topics dear to her such as climate change, ecology, and global pollution, based precisely on the observation of the rules of nature and its mutability.

Born and raised in a small village in the Swiss countryside not far from Lausanne, the artist often inserts a strong autobiographical component into many of her works. Surrounded and inspired by ancient trees, non-anthropocentric data, and biomorphic forms, the forest belongs to her childhood memories, being one of the very first elements capable of influencing the translation of the landscape in her creations. Her practice is guided by this longstanding interest in teasing out the history and memory of biomorphic forms through traditional hand processes, industrial and machine technologies. Playfully inspired by organic patterns and morphology, her site-specific installations are paying testament to the intelligence and transformative capacities of the ecological world.

Claudia Comte was born in Grancy, Switzerland, in 1983. She works with different media, often combining sculptures or installations – her main body of work – with wall paintings, videos, and performances, thus creating environments where works relate to each other with a visual rhythm that is both methodical and playful. Elements such as forests, video games, comic books and sci-fi films have contributed to the creation of a language filled with real and imaginary references. Her work is defined by her fascination with the memory of materials and a keen observation of the relationship between humans and technology.

A selection of her solo shows includes An Impending Disaster (HAHAHA), König Galerie im KHK, Vienna (2022), The Interview Painting Ensemble (mis en scène in 12 Acts), Art Basel Parcours, StadtCasino, Basel (2021), Claudia Comte. After Nature, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2021), Jungle and Corals, König Galerie Chapel, Berlin (2021), Claudia Comte. The Sea of Darkness, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Dornbirn (2020), Claudia Comte. How to Grow and Still Stay the Same Shape, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2019), I Have Grown Taller from Standing with Trees, Copenhagen Contemporary (2019), Claudia Comte: The Morphing Scallops, Gladstone Gallery, New York (2019), Bunnies and ZigZag, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Geneva (2019), Fruits and Jungle, König London (2019), The Cavern of Lost Dreams (nine characters), Gladstone Gallery, Brussels (2019), When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, König Galerie, Berlin (2018), The Primary Fondue Party, Salon Suisse: ATARAXIA, Venice Biennal (2017), La Ligne Claire, Basement Roma, Rome (2017). She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including OMNIBUS – 10 Years of Kinderhook & Caracas, Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin (2022), Le voci della sera, Vistamare, Milan (2022), Geometrische Opulenz, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2022), Desert X AlUla, Desert Biennale, Saudi Arabia (2022), Solo Houses, Galería Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid (2021), GROUP SHOW 2021, Galerie Joy de Rouvre, Geneva (2021), The Dreamers, 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennial (2021), More, More, More, TANK Museum, Shanghai (2020), Country Salts: This Morning, in the Sweet Torpor of the Great Forest, is Like Every Morning in the World, SALTS, Benwill (2020), Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York (2020), Figures on a Ground: Perspectives on Minimal Art, CAB Foundation, Brussels (2020).

Comte was the winner of the Swiss Art Award in 2014 and the Kiefer Hablitzel Award in 2012.

CURA. for Hypermaremma

curators: Ilaria Marotta / Andrea Baccin

Ilaria Marotta and Andrea Baccin are founding directors and editors-in-chief of the international magazine CURA. editorial and curatorial platform founded in 2009. They’re also founders and curators of the independent non-profit spaces BASEMENT ROMA and KURA. Milan. They curated over fifty exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including the 58th October Salon / Belgrade Biennale 2021 / The Dreamers.

Patronage: Comune di Capalbio

In collaboration with: Istituto Svizzero, Touring Club Italiano and RAI Toscana

Thanks to: Fattoria Stendardi, Giorgio Stefanelli

‘In Nature Nothing Exists Alone’ is supported by Regione Toscana as the winner projecy of the open call Toscana in contemporanea 2022