Phaéton | Recycle Group | Camille Fournet

équinoxes 8

Phaéton

Mix media

March 2023

Recycle Group

For this 8th edition of équinoxes, Andrey Blokhin and Georgy Kuznetsov of Recycle Group offer food for thought. Phaéton is a reflection on the web space, on a new way of understanding reality, a place where one can no longer perfectly discern which world is more influential: the physical or the digital.

RECYCLE GROUP MEETS
CAMILLE FOURNET

The Recycle Group is an artists’ collective formed in 2006 by Andrey Blokhin & Georgy Kuznetsov. For the 8th edition of equinoxes, the Recycle Group presents Phaéton, a reflection on the online space that combines mythology and technology.

EQUINOXES

"After a period of absence, a person loses his or her virtual personality, which sometimes overrides the IRL one. In Greek myth, Phaeton lost control of the chariot and was cast out of heaven."

What made you want to get involved in the equinoxes project ?

We like the architectural structure of Camille Fournet’s leather accessories and wanted to rise to the challenge of creating artwork within a confined space. We met Françoise and Jean-Luc Déchery at the Suzanne Tarasiève gallery a few years back and have continued to exchange ideas since, particularly on the myths of Antiquity, which we often reference in our work.

Please describe your creative process.

The creative process takes hold when you’re in synergy with your environment and your RAM isn’t saturated with extraneous processes. An idea is a subtle material that might hatch on a plane, or not hatch for a long time. Usually, we draw in our workshop, and in discussing ideas a new project crystallizes. Then comes the choice of materials and media, which has to be consistent with the concept..

How should your work be understood ?

Phaéton is a reflection on the web space, on a new kind of understanding of reality, where you don’t really know which influences you more, the real or digital world. After a period of absence, a person loses his or her virtual personality, which sometimes overrides the IRL one, especially considering the time we all spend in the digital world. In Greek myth, Phaeton lost control of the chariot and was cast out of heaven.

Phaéton, Recycle Group, 2023.
Photo credit : Anaïs Nieto