'Le déluge nous tient' is the second chapter of an ongoing project in which the artists explore the relentless flood.
The word 'deluge' signifies being overwhelmed: within its Latin roots it evokes an overwhelming amount of water - as we know from the ancient epic of Gilgamesh and the later Genesis flood. In a metaphorical sense, the deluge reflects a universal experience of being inundated. It is an experience that feels more relevant than ever in today's world with an overwhelming stream of information, questions, news, work, worries and objects that never ceases.
In their first exhibition, 'Tenir dans le déluge', the artists searched for their place within this flood. The boat became a vessel for that experience: a place of movement, uncertainty, protection, and collective navigation. Considering the deluge not just as something that happens to us, but something we all have to endure and live with, they began to ask how to sustain themselves while being constantly confronted with it.
In this second exhibition, 'Le déluge nous tient' (the flood holds us), the relationship to the water shifts. The flood that surrounds us, that enters our spaces, that occupies our thoughts is not something to navigate or endure; it has become the condition itself. The artists begin to consider what it means to be held by it, without having dry land to return to. Each artist responds differently, through their own materials and methods. They are allowing the water in, drifting with the current, seeking ways to surrender to the flood, while maintaining balance and without losing themselves along the way. At first, they held on. Now, the flood holds them.