Par le corps / solo exhibition

PAR LE CORPS
20 March - 21 September 2025
La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest (Thouars, France)

A strange and solemn feeling emanates from Regenerate, this ensemble of forms gathered in the nave of “La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc”. Perhaps because they appear both obscure and luminous, they seem fragile and resilient at the same time. There is an enigmatic presence here, one might even call it extraordinary. While the space itself, with its religious connotations, certainly shapes the experience, it is also the unlikely conjunction of limestone and steel — the brittle with the stainless — that creates such surprising tensions beneath a surface of formal unity.

Perhaps here lies one of the keys to the enigma these scattered forms seem to carry — fragments subtly guided by the orthogonality of the chapel itself. Though different in nature, these materials and elements come together, giving rise to a sensation imbued with both the sacred and the secular. It is no mere metaphor to say that this feeling comes from afar. Elise Guillaume’s work bears the imprint of a residency in the Arctic, where the constant awareness of imminent danger lingers everywhere, quietly veiled by the beauty of the landscape —  the shimmering of water, the cracking of ice, the song of distant birds...

Everything seems calm, at least on the surface, but appearances can be misleading. Our gaze must travel further, descend below the horizon line. Perhaps it is a matter of listening in order to see... of closing one’s eyes. What lies in the ocean’s depths is beyond imagination, and largely inaudible to the human ear. Only highly sensitive hydrophones can detect its traces.

What we hear in the crypt is an iteration of Waves of Resonance — a research project exploring the psychological impact of ocean sounds. The work was developed in collaboration with psychologist Dr. Marine Severin and acoustic ecologist Dr. Clea Parcerisas, as part of the EMBracing the Ocean residency, organised by the European Marine Board. The soundscape navigates between the water’s surface and the vastness of the deep sea. The astonishing — yet very real — porosity of our surroundings becomes palpable, as does the violence of certain anthropogenic sounds, such as the thudding reverberations from offshore pile-driving.

The ocean is a body of water. This idea resonates profoundly—morphologically, and metaphorically, providing us with a better understanding of its essence. Foraged from the North Sea, where it had washed ashore, the seaweed was cleaned, cooked, cast, dried, and sometimes sewn together in Elise Guillaume’s studio. What emerged are these translucent skins — vesicular seaweed, with golden hues, fragile and yet powerful. They have come to us in their present form, bearing witness with delicate intensity, to the fact that the abyss of this body is not so distant from our own — it is a part of us, it is us.

Martial Déflacieux
This text was originally written in French. English translation by Marie de Ganay. 
Original text available here.

Research behind the Waves of Resonance soundpiece:
Video by John Janssens.

CREDITS
Regenerate, 2025
Artist: Elise Guillaume
Production: La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc, Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest
Collaborators: Fabien Sylvestre Suzor
(metalwork), Regnier Joseph
(lighting), Sophie Stinglhamber
(sewing)
Assistance: Mathilde Hausermann Ramisse, Ronan Le Morvan.

Special thanks: Clea Parcerisas, Julia Aubach, Bram Cuyx, Martial Déflacieux, Martin Jalmby, John Janssens, David Peters, Marie de Ganay, Corentin Desmet, Olivier Vanderdonckt.

Waves of Resonance, 2025
Artist: Elise Guillaume
Production: The research and development of the project were initiated during the EMBracing the Ocean residency program, organised by the European Marine Board, as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The project was co-produced by La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc, Contemporary Art Center of National Interest, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
Scientific collaborators : Dr. Clea Parcerisas (acoustic ecologist), Dr. Marine Severin (environmental psychologist)
Research workshop partners: Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), the Royal College of Art, and La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest.
Cultural research support : Pauline Lisowski (art critic and curator)
Sound recordings : Elise Guillaume, The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2021) : LifeWatch observatory data : Broadband acoustic sensor network in the Belgian Part of the North Sea, and Prof. Michel André, Laboratoire d’Applications Bioacoustiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC).
Sound mix: Grady Steele
Technical Assistance: Jonathan Bircumshaw
Special thanks : Britt Alexander, Marie du Chastel, Michael Lunt, and the research workshop participants.

La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest
Martial Déflacieux (Director)
Megan Guimet (Public Relations Manager)
Aline Badet (Public Engagement and Front Desk Coordinator)
Anne-Marie Taudière (Secretary)