Fabrice Hyber and Robert Langer Collaborate at Le Laboratoire

Le Laboratoire, a new Parisian art-science center founded by David Edwards, opened with its inaugural exhibition 'Matière à penser' featuring artist Fabrice Hyber and scientist Robert Langer. The space, located in a former printing press near the Louvre, is privately funded and will expand in 2008 to include a design store, membership club, publications, and conferences on art-science and humanitarian topics. Each season follows a theme; the first is intelligence. Exhibitions pair a scientist with an artist. In the main installation, Hyber and Langer visualize intelligence using a pommier whose fruits turn into cherries, metaphorically representing stem cell plasticity. The floor is divided into three colored surfaces with a suspended corset symbolizing neural tension. Three giant hourglasses evoke cell division, a malabar column represents a neuron, and a figure made of fruits and vegetables references Arcimboldo. Unfinished paintings suggest the exhibition is a work in progress. Other works include Mathieu Lehanneur and David Edwards' 'Bel-Air, News About a Second Atmosphere,' inspired by NASA's discovery of toxic vapors in spacecraft, using intelligent plants to filter air. Pierrick Sorin's optical theater 'Bonbon à l'œuf et son coulis de peinture' greets visitors with a voiceover by Edwards describing the space as 'a place of experiments, not just exhibitions.' The exhibition ran from September 19, 2007, to January 15, 2008.