Hidaka and Zarka's Crystalline Geometry at Instants Chavirés

At Les Instants Chavirés in Montreuil, Christian Hidaka and Raphaël Zarka present 'La Famille Schoenflies,' an exhibition named after German mathematician Arthur Moritz Schoenflies. In 1891, Schoenflies published 'Kristallsysteme und Kristallstructur,' cataloging crystal structures as a mathematical model of nature, akin to Plato's four regular polyhedra in the Timaeus. Zarka, known for his atlas of the rhombicuboctahedron, focuses solely on Schoenflies' work, crafting seven cherrywood crystals. Hidaka's five tempera frescoes engage the longer history of polyhedra, borrowing motifs from Leonardo da Vinci, Wenzel Jamnitzer, and Giorgio Morandi, among others. Rather than a chronological narrative, Hidaka crystallizes distinct times, with four frescoes resembling a fusion of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings and Federico da Montefeltro's studiolo. A fifth fresco depicts a white wall with dark treetops, evoking Renaissance ideal cities and Giorgio de Chirico's empty piazzas. One niche features a small photograph of Arthur Schoenflies. Zarka named the wooden crystals after family members—Anna, Elizabeth, Lotte—so visitors encounter personal names rather than abstract forms. The former brewery space, open to daylight and street sounds, imparts a gentle quality to the geometric works, avoiding the cold inhumanity of a closed museum.