Magali Reus interrogates industrial food production at Delme synagogue art center

Magali Reus's exhibition 'Le Plat Principal' at Centre d'Art Contemporain – la synagogue de Delme examines the contradictions of industrial agriculture and food manufacturing through sculptural installations. The show features three series: 'Candlesticks' (2022) presents five full-size streetlamp sculptures with vegetables growing in their bases, 'Clementine' (2023) includes oversized jam jar sculptures referencing Bonne Maman brand packaging, and 'Landings' (2022) comprises eight c-print photographs of discarded fruit and materials in hand-carved aluminum frames. Reus transforms the former synagogue building, bombed during World War II and rebuilt, into a site-specific exploration of how natural imagery masks industrial realities. The artist incorporates a gingham pattern covering Daniel Buren's 1997 striped wall intervention, connecting visual motifs across the exhibition. Photographs in 'Landings' display distances between fruit cultivation and consumption locations, with cherries traveling 3,708.9 km and clementines 7,505 km. Epoxy resin mimics glass in sculptures that critique multinational corporation Andros's marketing of Bonne Maman products as nostalgic farmhouse creations. The exhibition continues through June 4 in Delme, a French town of 1,000 residents surrounded by industrial farmland historically contested between France and Germany.