Anne-Laure Wuillai - Îlots

A 2014 graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the artist has been developing a unique approach to collecting and archiving for several years. She methodically compiles an inventory of samples: water samples, collected sediments, and fragments of shoreline carefully cataloged, packaged, and classified according to protocols she establishes. This quasi-scientific approach reveals the absurdity of attempting to contain the ocean's vastness within human-scale measurement systems. Oceans fit into bottles, seas into labeled plastic bags, while the sky is measured in fifty-three shades of blue.

The exhibition confronts a coveted sea and a desire for paradise with an economic orchestration centered on the seaside resort. The landscape is literally consumed, and the sea becomes a commodity, at the heart of a tourist economy where ice cream vendors and souvenir shops rub shoulders to buy a moment of idleness.