Surface Horizon

Exhibition

from 17 Jun to 05 Sep 2021
© Julia Andréone

Based on the works of Marguerite Humeau, Estelle Zhong Mengual proposes to question our ways of seeing plants and the capacity of art to transform our attention to these other living beings than ourselves.

What is our eye for plants? What do we see of them when we encounter them? How can we learn to see them as something other than anonymous scenery? And what difference does it make to the world and to ourselves that we are no longer 'a stranger among plants'?
Estelle Zhong Mengual is an independent researcher and author.

With a PhD in art history, she has taught on the Master’s programme in Art and Politics (SPEAP), founded by Bruno Latour at Sciences Po, as well as at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her research focuses on the relationships between art – past and present – and the living world.

She is the author of several books, including Apprendre à voir. The Perspective of the Living (2021) and Painting in Close Quarters: Flowers and Georgia O’Keeffe (2022). In 2023, she created Non-Human Dances with choreographer Jérôme Bel at the Louvre Museum. In 2024, she created Starting This World Anew with Jérôme Bel and actress Jolente De Keersmaeker.

In 2026, she worked with director Clara Hédouin on a theatrical adaptation of her recent writings at La Comédie de Caen, where she is an associate artist.

Her new book is due to be published in March 2027 by Actes Sud.

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