Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's Sensory Pavilion for France at 2015 Venice Biennale

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot will represent France at the 2015 Venice Biennale with an installation in the Giardini pavilion. His work employs low-voltage electrical currents to animate trees within the exhibition space, creating landscapes and soundscapes that challenge conventional sensory experiences. Boursier-Mougenot aims to dissolve boundaries between human and vegetal realms, machines and living organisms, interior and exterior spaces. He approaches the national pavilion context as an opportunity to question architectural and national boundaries, turning space inside out by inviting the garden indoors. The artist rejects the notion of national representation, focusing instead on how soundscapes can foster new forms of listening and sensory openness with potential social implications. Boursier-Mougenot recalls visiting the 1999 Biennale opening, remembering Ann Veronica Janssen's fog installation at the Belgian pavilion and Peter Bonde and Jason Rhodes' transformation of the Danish pavilion into a racecar garage. He lives in Sète, an industrial fishing port on the Mediterranean, where he notes the local art scene remains largely disconnected from international events like the Venice Biennale. ArtReview published this questionnaire on April 7, 2015, as part of a series featuring artists and curators participating in the 2015 Venice Biennale.