Petrine | Fortschritt

Rearranged shards of glass on the floor, originating from shattered shop fronts, advertising panels and car windows. Fixtures of the urban landscape, transformed by society’s expression. A violent outcry against dictated notions of control. Constraining movements; an effort to take away the spectator’s freedom to navigate the space.

Hospitals are archetypes of the idea of care. The clarity of the floorplans printed in fine grey lines gives an illusion of order. Cut-out and reassembled into geometric diagrams from different hospital structures, they become impossible, dysfunctional spaces from which there is no escape. Configuring them as maps to navigate unknown environments, the plans reveal their capacity for control, alluding to Oscar Reutersvärd’s inescapable 1937 Penrose steps.

Untitled - Progress 1970s 1 & 2 are taken from a book titled Le merveilles de l’Amérique, celebrating the greatness of American competitive sports. The works reject promises of progress that have since been demystified by head traumas and animal abuse that for decades were kept silent to preserve image and reputation. Through overlapping images, the origin of the spine is revealed and their deconstruction becomes evident; dictated by the vessel in which they were printed they materialise a paradox of progress itself.

Fortschritt - progress, a notion that implies advancement and improvement but is inherently divisive. The image of progress continuously reveals its limits, moving towards a future that is constantly being dismantled.

– Francesca Sabatini

Clovis Bataille lives and works in Paris. Recent exhibitions include Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris (2023) and Pole Gallery, Paris (2021).