2023 | NICOLAS BAIER - Vases communicants
MONTREAL
Jan 21 - March 11, 2023
Opening: Saturday, Jan 21, 2022

Vases communicants, or ‘communicating vessels,’ are containers connected to each other at the base by channels. When pouring liquid into or removing it from one of the containers, it is distributed amongst them all until an equal height is achieved throughout the entire connected system. What we then observe: a straight, horizontal line. Regardless of the shape, volume, or the arrangement of the containers belonging to this continuous horizon, regardless of the appearance of the joints between each, as long as there is space for the liquid to migrate, this state of equilibrium will be realized.

This exhibition by Nicolas Baier, in a way, coheres to the principle of communicating vessels, all the works being linked together by common themes that have long been a part of the artist’s practice: perception, science, existential questioning, knowledge, technology, and the thin or non-existent line between the natural and the artificial. Vast conceptual fields bisecting the exhibition and tracing a network of ideas linking the works. Regardless of the appearance, the form the works take, these concepts pervade them and equally tend towards equilibrium, which is akin to the attainment of a form of truth.

Truth is not simple to define and constantly evolves according to the discipline in question, according to the context in which one is located, according to the stage of the evolution of ideas and discoveries that defines the era in which we happen to find ourselves. Yet, always the truth remains the aspiration towards which we are inclined, that point where, it seems to us, what surrounds us will be illuminated by a new, revelatory light. One discerns this kind of pursuit as much within the sense of inquisitiveness that underlies the works in the exhibition as in the questions they themselves raise. As we contend with objects that present us with the secrets or proof of our reality, we can experience “eureka moments.” A beam of light descending on something we did not even know we were looking for.

This thread woven between the works in the exhibition also extends to other, earlier pieces, thus creating a vast network that is at once current and retrospective. In effect, by means of their form and the intention infused in them, some echo notable works of Baier’s previous exhibitions. These relationships testify to the coherence of his oeuvre as a whole, which focuses, time and time again, on esoteric lines of inquiry, yet equally to the passage of time that has a way of altering the answers to and treatment of these questions. Despite their fixed nature, these works are above all characterized by the evolution of the artist and of the society he is navigating. By revisiting intellectual pathways already traversed and forms already treated, Baier incorporates an element of flexibility into his creative process that allows change to emerge. This change is, in a sense, the engine or even the very matter of his representations and is anchored in the evolution of everything his work grows out of: materiality, society, research, and ideas. Change also drives and defines us. We often tend to focus on the changes that occur around us, such as rapid technological advances, forgetting that we too are evolving. This temporal movement informs the gaze of the artist and that of the viewer, and thereby this truth towards which the body of work reaches.

Retrospective and progressive aspects go hand in hand in Vases communicants. The designation of retrospective for the exhibition is in some ways fitting, because not only do these works reference earlier ones, but also they have, in a way, always been tacit in Baier’s over-arching artistic project. In a sense, they have always existed. It is only that, here, they now take shape, sculpted by the passage of time that has provided the necessary conditions for their creation.

The perpetual weaving together of the past, present, and future, this continuous refrain, applies to our own existence as well. Although evolution is most often understood as the far-stretched span of a species, whose process is not perceptible by the individual, it also operates on a smaller scale. These works, deftly transformed throughout the years, remind us that a new reality awaits us, and that the concepts that support them resonate differently with the passage of time. While this exhibition attests to a new chapter in Baier’s practice, it is also a contemplative journey that invites us to observe ourselves as evolving beings, a call that is sounded in different ways by these wide-ranging themes.

Nicolas Baier’s previous exhibitions traced such defined trails of exploration as, for instance, the magnification of scientific representation or the constellations of the celestial dome that become a metaphor for those that illuminate our consciousness. In Vases communicants, we find that everything is interconnected. Beyond the clear and evocative message transmitted by each work, the whole body of work also emanates a miscellany of ideas, a network too complex to be untangled.

Nevertheless, out of this impression of fog hovering over the exhibition a stronger presence emerges, that is, that of technology. It is all around us, as much in idea as in form. We might ask, is it indeed fog that encircles us or are we blinded, rather, by this omnipresence? While Baier presents technology as the pinnacle of human evolution, he also portrays it as so intimately linked to our environment, to our existence, that it becomes difficult to pinpoint the source of this evolution: is it technology or the human being that propels us forward? Is it human existence that forges a path to the future, or is it the instrument of technology itself, which takes shape as a new form of life and possesses a kind of intelligence that in some cases rivals our own? This overlap between who we are and what we produce can be found throughout the entire exhibition, resulting in a viewing experience that can feel at times turbulent and at other times harmonious.

-Sophie Pouliot, janvier 2023