French multimedia artist Ninon Hivert has gained recognition for her unique approach to transforming discarded objects into compelling works of art that explore themes of memory, abandonment, and urban life. Her latest exhibition, "Ce Qui Est, Ce Qui Sera, Ce Qui Fut." (That Which Is, That Which Will Be, That Which Has Been), currently running at Chapelle XIV in Paris through December 20, showcases her innovative techniques in sculpture and collage that capture what she calls "the poetics of discarded items."
Hivert's artistic philosophy centers on the concept that an object's "afterlife" tells an ongoing story, with discarded items retaining memories of the bodies that once used them, their gestures, and their relationship to the environment. Working with the methodical precision of an archaeologist, she observes found objects with patient attention before translating them into new artistic forms, effectively capturing the textures and essence of contemporary urban life in the process.
The artist's exploration of forgotten objects began with photographic documentation, later evolving to include clay sculptures that interpret the "uncertain gestures of cast-off clothing." In her recent work, Hivert has expanded her focus to encompass a broader range of everyday items, isolating artifacts at moments of abandonment to reveal the contours of human presence left behind. Her work operates as what she describes as a "process of distillation," similar to transforming grain into spirit, where the qualities of objects change slightly each time they are captured in a new medium.
The current exhibition at Chapelle XIV demonstrates Hivert's mastery across multiple mediums and materials. Stacks of flattened cardboard and bags of clothing are compressed into ceramic cubes, their bulging surfaces recording the physical tension of containment. Glass bubble-wrap sculptures from her "Demi-Jour" series are displayed on shelves, creating fragile objects that pose as protective shells for contents that no longer exist. A bronze cast of work gloves rests nearby, serving to monumentalize the gestures of past labor and human activity.
Hivert's technical expertise spans an impressive range of materials, including bronze, pâte de verre (a glass molding technique made from fused glass powder), clay, photography, and collage. She approaches the dialogue between material and environment with remarkable precision, creating projects that are both conceptually rigorous and visually striking. Her glass works particularly demonstrate her innovative approach to material transformation.
"With glass, after modeling the bubble wrap in clay, a molding process was added, introducing new gestures, new steps, and successive states of matter into this translation," Hivert explains. "The final result of Demi-Jour was, for me, a kind of serendipity: I ended up with a solid but translucent sculpture, where the dark mass inside disappeared when light passed through it, as if I had captured a shadow."
The torn collages featured in the exhibition evoke weathered palimpsests of wheatpaste advertisements caught in the liminal space between removal and renewal, further emphasizing themes of transition and impermanence. These works complement the sculptural pieces by adding a two-dimensional element that maintains the artist's focus on discarded urban materials.
Hivert's observations carry both tenderness and social critique, as her work embraces the poetics of transition while simultaneously implicating viewers in broader cycles of consumption and waste. Her art poses fundamental questions about the lifecycle of objects: What happens when an item slips from functional use into waste? At what point does a functional item cease to be visible to society, and what remains during that unseen interval?
By articulating this fragile in-between state, Hivert illustrates what she calls "the transitional state's autonomy." Her body of work neither mourns nor celebrates what has been discarded, instead allowing materials to persist in ambiguity and occupy time differently. In their quiet persistence, these transformed forms evoke both what has been and what will be, representing temporalities bound together by the ever-renewing gestures of the present.
The exhibition "Ce Qui Est, Ce Qui Sera, Ce Qui Fut." runs from October 10 to December 20 at Chapelle XIV in Paris, offering visitors an opportunity to experience Hivert's unique perspective on contemporary urban life and material culture. Her work continues to gain international attention for its thoughtful approach to environmental themes and innovative use of found materials, establishing her as a significant voice in contemporary multimedia art.
