MultivEarth VI

23/02/2024
MultivEarth VI (co-realised with my son, Soan Pujau)
2024, concrete, pigments
D 30cm

As in the previous project, Geology of a disaster, the stratification can also be interpreted as an analogy between the stratification of geological rocks and the stratification of society into classes with disparities of wealth and power, and the use of concrete also brings us back to Anselm Jappe and the parallel he draws between capitalism and the massive use of this material.

But this is no mere repetition or declension. There is a change of scale here, and perhaps also a shift in time. From the core sample extracted from the ground, we move on to a planetary observation of the damage caused by capitalism; the camera suddenly moves back; and, on the other hand, we can also imagine that the one-off observation of the accumulation of successive layers of concrete through the study of the ground translated by the Geology of a disaster project has gradually been extended to the whole planet. We could therefore see here the metaphorical chronological continuation of the Geology of a disaster series. 

To this is added an additional dimension through the idea of a series, that of imagining different versions of the Earth where each capitalist scenario would lead to a different concretification of our planet or, more generally, to its systematic transformation into an environment unfit for life in all the capitalist universes present concurrently according to the theory of the multiverse to which the title of this series refers.

As I explained in the Under Pressure project, the aim here, as in other projects, is to attack the imaginary constructed around capitalism in order to work, work after work, towards its end by changing the way it is perceived. In other words, my approach is to try to bring down the masks with the means at hand, which are peanuts, but I've heard it said that every stone in an edifice has its importance.

Last but not least, this work is the first to be created with my son Soan Pujau, the co-author of this piece, and this collaboration has a triple symbolic meaning. Firstly, of course, it highlights the bond that unites us through collaborative work. Secondly, his involvement in a project that aims to change the world makes him more aware of the issue of ecology, and raises the hope that this seed will later lead him to take up the fight that so many people have been waging for decades. Finally, this generational collaboration also shows that we are not fighting for my generation or previous generations, but for him, his generation and future generations, and that we can only succeed together.