Inspired by the splendour of the Château’s dining room, Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger lay a table worthy of a dinner given by the Princesse de Broglie, the owner of the Domaine from 1875 to 1938.
Behind the colourful magic and the profusion of these unusual dishes, the artistic couple are responding to the theme of biodiversity which is being developed by the 2011 Garden Festival and are asking questions about the future of food in the world.
The artists are very aware of the major ecological issues of our time and present worlds that are poetic, sometimes cynical, but always full of humour.
For their projects, which fluctuate between the natural and the artificial, the Swiss artistic duo transcends nature and gives birth to strange hybrid sculptures. Together, they ask questions about the relationship between human activity and the environment, and rely on the aestheticism of nature to create installations which seem to come out of an enchanted world.
The work they have created at Chaumont will be a changing one and the green-coloured dishes filling the bowls will spread out, like a surrealist soup, well beyond the china.
Biographical NOTEs
Gerda STEINER and Jörg LENZLINGER
SWITZERLAND
Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger form an artistic couple, born in 1967 and 1964. They live in Uster/Zurich. Since 1997, they have been working on joint projects. They grow artificial plants and crystalline vegetation, fill walls with playful frescos and approach their peers with a disarming charm.
Gerda Steiner owes her fame to huge murals, which are reminiscent of the psychedelic patterns of the sixties with their curved lines and vigorous colours.
Jörg Lenzlinger has specialised in experimenting with industrially produced urea. He uses it to make concretions of multicoloured stalactites and crystal landscapes. Together, they develop huge installations broken up into many parts, small wonderlands, telling their stories with a playful charm and an ironic wink.
