[FR] ~ 1961

gratin.org/as/

“Still Living” ~ 2006

custom software, LCD screen_variable dimensions.

Courtesy Gallery Numericausa, Paris

Still Living is a series of installations - all marked by a cold, functional, “business style” design - which draw on the contrast between the representational function and utility of graphs and diagrams and their “vitalism” in a digital context. Schmitt’s diagrams - pie-charts, bars, curves - seem animated by the very same forces and strains they pretend to describe.

“Dying Christ” ~ 2006

Custom Software, Computer, videoprojection.

Courtesy Gallery Numericausa, Paris

In a striking contrast with this functional layout, Christ Mourant the archetypal figure of the suffering man, the Christ dying on the cross. The artist writes: “The figure that we see never dies: it is endlessly suffering and dying. In this work, I have recreated, using 3D modeling and physics engine inspired by video games engines, the physical conditions of the death of the Christ : a body hung by nailed hands and feet, trying to pull on his arms to be able to breathe, not being able to hold this position because of exhaustion, endlessly trying. The figure that we see is actually, in his world, indefinitely suffering, and we can feel it.”

Schmitt’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in many venues, such as Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2002, 2004, 2006), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1999), Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria, 2003) and Villette Numérique (Paris 2004).