Mathilde Chassaigne, born in France in 1992, studied at the « École Nationale Supérieure d’Art » of Dijon where she passed her « Diplôme National d’Art » (National Art Diploma), in 2017 then her « Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique » (National Higher Diploma of Plastic Expression), in 2019. She also studied in Nagoya, Japan at the University of Arts during the 2017-2018 school period. She is currently living and working in Paris.
The artist’s work is intended to be organic and alive. Through its performances, the human body interacts and plays with plaster and fabric scupltures which creates a choregraphy between mobile and still into a space and a given time. This time which is the performance length, turns out to be necessary to the performance preparation. Replicating nature, Mathilde Chassaigne grows plants which she watches growing up before stage it into her sculptures. Sometimes mixing dancers and musicians into her performances, the artist reveals to the audience, an alive multi-sensory board, poetic and harmonic.
Jessica Watson
Manager of the XXth and XXIst centuries collections at the Burgundian Life Museum of Dijon.
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My artistic research is related to the environment inside am I. This is my first inspirational source ; the important point in my intention is to meet people, educational places, cultural places or associations which are fighting to preserve the wild life. The materials I’m using are usually natural as cotton, plants, clay and in fact, a part of my work is focused on the natural color and dye. My artistic work is usually composed in two parts : creating an object with the goal of making an installation and the production of a performance then put into action the body into a given space.
Body is an important aspect of my work where materials, color, space and movement are surrounding. I’m trying to consider our movements, our life space and our time connection in a different way although a sculptural, photographic or performative art. To me, space is like a drawing sheet where I can draw, create forms and paint. Performances are living paintings where the temporality changes, which is slower, the body gets impregnated with the place and take its measure. I’m wondering about raltionships between a person and an artwork. I like the idea that we can make a sensory experience of a sculpture and the nits status could be contested. Is it an object, a piece of furniture, a toy, an accessory or a musical instrument ? Moreover, I’m particularly interested about textile and its material form which is close to the skin, flexible and manageable it is suitable to our movements. The ambiguous status of the clothes, at the same time folded and worn, puzzles me ; like a first habitat, it is an interface between the body morphology and the architecural geometry.