Collection

Biography

After training in architecture, Matthieu Kavyrchine soon gave up designing built environments in order to lose himself in the study of art. In 1999, this led him to enter the graduate program at the Studio National des Arts Contemporains in Fresnoy, with a focus on audio-visual art. While there, he expanded his projects, working in photography, performance, and video, collaborating with other artists, and roughing out his ideas on “mental space”. Fresh out of Fresnoy, an encounter with some choreographers opened a series of collaborations between 2000 and 2002 that made Kavyrchine explore a new vision of space – a more fluid vision of the body in motion. Since then his solo projects have led him to occupy Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (Habiter, 2003), to stay overnight in a forest (D104, 2008), to immerse himself in empty auditoriums (Culture, 2008), and to explore the American shoreline (Câbles, 2010). The distinctive element of his artistic process consists in a project-based approach where photography is the centerpiece, complemented by other forms of expression (video, sound, installation...). Because of the resources used in his work, Matthew Kavyrchine’s photo shoots are reminiscent of film production: location shots, teamwork, lighting, shooting with a view camera, post-production... Yet, except for there being an invisible script, the parallel ends here, for these mise-en-scènes of mental spaces stop short of any narrative suggestion, giving way just before a story should emerge. Thus, each of his photographs immerses us in a place that does not exist — a literal “ou-topos”, territory out of reach, unresolved, imaginary yet potentially existing.

site de Matthieu Kavyrchine

Events

"Gouffres" (Chasms) by Matthieu Kavyrchine From 09 june to saturday 09 july 2011 A luminous cable crosses the spaces of a natural and underground architecture, revealing and connecting them.