Lecture Estelle Zhong Mengual
'Learning to see the living world through art'
Thursday 21 November 2024, 19:00
Wintertuin, Academy
Estelle Zhong Mengual proposes to investigate our eye, as it relates to a very specific part of the world: the living world. What eye have we inherited when it comes to seeing living things? What mental and sensitive equipment comes into play when we look at a forest, a cornflower or a fox? What are its powers and limits? What do our eyes perceive of the living world, and what lies outside of our common ways of paying attention to it? And above all: how can this equipment be enriched? Estelle Zhong Mengual suggests that art could be an unexpected, but highly relevant path.
The lecture will be followed by a Q&A between Roel Arkesteijn and Estelle Zhong Mengual. The publication Leren kijken: De optiek van het levende (the Dutch translation of Apprendre à voir. Le point de vue du vivant) by Estelle Zhong Mengual, recently published by Octavo, will be for sale this evening.
About Estelle Zhong Mengual
Estelle Zhong Mengual (1989) is a French art historian. She received her doctorate from Sciences Po in Paris, where she taught for six years at the Master's in art and politics, founded by Bruno Latour. She is now in charge of a chair at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, titled ‘Inhabiting the landscape’. Her research regards our perception of the living world - past and present. In particular, she works on the development of an art history based on humanities, environmental and natural sciences. She is the author of several books. Leren Kijken. De optiek van het levende, the Dutch translation of her book Apprendre à voir, was recently published with Octavo publicaties.
Alongside her research, she is also involved in various artistic projects. In 2023, she cocreated with choreographer Jérôme Bel a piece titled Non human dances which premiered at the Louvre Museum. In 2024, she co-created, again with Jérôme Bel, a theatre piece about our relationships with the living world, titled Starting the world anew, and starring Flemish actress Jolente de Keersmaeker from tgSTAN.
(image: Martin Johnson Heade, Orchid and Hummingbird near a Waterfall, 1902; oil on canvas, 38.2 x 51.5 cm; (c) Carmen Thyssen Collection, Madrid)