Christoph Keller's Ether: Archives Between Art and Science at Centre Pompidou

From February 16 to March 7, 2011, Christoph Keller presented an exhibition and program at Espace 315, Centre Pompidou, as part of the Festival du Centre Pompidou. The project explores the concept of ether as a metamorphic operator between science and the arts, addressing questions about the void, spiritualism, and postmodern revenants. Keller describes ether as a 'question without answer,' using its intervals to connect art and science. The exhibition includes manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and videos from figures such as Descartes, Richer, Trouvelot, and Weerasethakul. It is divided into three chronological sections, with a fourth dedicated to daily film screenings and lectures. By playing with the didactic aspects of documentation, the show reverses expectations: scientific writings and photographs, artworks, and films coexist as archives, where 'archive' denotes not a document type but a general mode of operation. This archival strategy aims to open unanswered questions in both science and art. The text is by Christophe Kihm.