EARTH, FIRE and DREAMS by Andrée Weschler and Javier Canales 2017-2021

Earth, Fire and Dreams is a contemporary artistic meeting in a frame of history and tradition. The project is the result of a collaboration between the French artist Andrée Weschler and the Chilean artist Javier Canales, who have been devoting themselves for four years to creative research and artistic practice in relation to territory, body, earth and history with clay as the unifying element. It is the material with which they pay hommage to ancestors and contemporaries, from the origins of the Austral Aboriginal peoples to the concept of the "Forgotten". Always in search of new aesthetics, they explore the various possibilities of contemporary expression offered by clay. Javier Canales is inspired by an old tribe that lived in Tierra del Fuego in the extreme south of Patagonia. 6000 years ago, the Selk'nam were close to nature, respectful of the earth, and would have had a lot to teach us. Andrée Weschler pays homage to artists and models who have been forgotten in order to immortalise figures that society venerates. Her work is a tribute to those who have worked on the statues that line the roads in the countryside and mark important places for the protection of passersby.

The collaboration of Earth, Fire and Dreams has been exhibited at:

Museo Martin Gusinde in Puerto Williams, Navarino Island, Chile

Ateliers Mommen, Brussels, Belgica

Biennale Arte Dolomiti, Italy

Regional Museo of Magallanes, in Punta Arenas, Chile

Musée de la Poterie de Betschdorf, France 

Casa Azul Cultural Center Gallery in Punta Arenas, Chile

Eulogy by Andrée Weschler and Sabrina Koh, 2015

By common definition, Eulogy (noun) is a speech or a piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, especially a tribute to someone (who has just died). In this duo exhibition by Andrée Weschler and Sabrina Koh, the installation suggests an independent view from each artist, and alternatively, where both settings meet.

Flaneur presents the two artists will make tribute to the people and objects which they have lost along their domestic journey, and perhaps in their own meeting point, to relive those settings in context of the other’s. Andrée Weschler is interested in giving her eulogy to the lost domesticate(d) objects that carry the journey of home stories, while Sabrina Koh aims to reposition and p(raise) the relationships we build in a domestic setting; given or not.

"In this confessional piece of work, we thought about the 'silent' sent-offs of loved ones and objects, and have found that particularly inspiring and relevant to the roots in this metropolis home." - Andrée Weschler and Sabrina Koh

La Carte de Tendre (The Map of Love), 2011

La Carte de Tendre was a French map of an imaginary land called Tendre produced in the 17th Century, which depicts the "geography of love" according to the Precieuses  of that era: the River of Inclination flows past the villages of "Billet Doux" (Love Letter), "Petits Soins" (Little Trinkets), and intrepid travelers brave the dangers of "Le Lac d' Indiference" (Lake of Indifference). The villages, roads, and topographic features in this allegorical representation trace the myriad facets of love and its associated perils. 

Lynn Lu and Andrée Weschler revisited the map of love with its successes and pitfalls and propose a new reading of the Carte of Tendre with video installation and performances art.

Ref. Carte de Tendre, 17th Century print, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Drawn by Melle de Scudery

Engraved by François Chauveau