Catalogue > At random

At first glance presenting itself as a mysterious botanical garden shrouded in mist and dotted with interactive panels and tactile objects, Le Jardin d’acclimatation is an anthropised space, shaped by human perception and systems of thought. As the viewer explores this virtual environment — freely accessible yet offering only limited visibility — it gradually branches into adjacent spaces, opening onto other modes of visualisation. These successive stages reveal the enigmatic complexity of plant organisms in interaction with their environments. Each layer of perception functions as a threshold to be crossed, highlighting in particular the often-invisible complexity of root systems and mycorrhizal processes, as well as the diverse modes of nutrition, communication and interaction (associations, symbioses, mutual aid, and not least predation strategies). Available through three distinct yet complementary modes (exploratory, intuitive–emotional, and scientific), the journey through this botanical garden unfolds into multiple parallel scenes, expanding our perceptual capacities and allowing for a deeper understanding of the plant world. Original music: Sonia Paço-Rocchia A work produced at the public agricultural institution Chartres–La Saussaye as part of a partnership between the DRAAF, the DRAC, and the Centre–Val de Loire Region (France).

Sandrine Deumier is a multidisciplinary artist working across performance, poetry and video art. Her practice explores post-futurist themes through the development of aesthetic forms shaped by digital imaginaries. Driven by an interest in digital storytelling and immersive artistic experiences, she has spent several years developing poetic and visual fictions centred on speculative visions of the living world. Ecological concerns and imagined futures lie at the heart of her research. Her work focuses primarily on how new technologies might allow us to imagine alternative ways of inhabiting the world from an animist perspective — one in which the preservation of natural balances takes precedence over predation, accumulation and limitless growth.