Now on display at 25 Baker St. W1: Supra Strata (2024) by Noémie Goudal.
Derwent London x Edel Assanti
Encompassing film, sculpture, photography and performance, Noémie Goudal's work is underpinned by rigorous research at the intersection of ecology and Earth sciences. Her practice revolves around the construction of intricate, illusionistic interventions in the landscape; these constructions allow her to visualise the notion of "deep time" and reveal landscapes as transient moments in a cycle of continuous change. In Supra Strata (2024), Goudal gives form to the planetary transformations taking place during the Anthropocene. The film opens with a nocturnal scene of dense, primordial vegetation. As the work unfolds, the landscape slowly begins to dissolve and disintegrate, revealing a secondary forested vista flooded with celestial light, which, mimicking the cycle of life, itself evaporates to reveal a static scene of muted flora and fauna. In the final moments of the film, the analogue and illusionistic nature of Goudal's filmic process is revealed, as the rigging, clamps, tripods and lights used to suspend and frame the entire construction come into view.
The dissolution of Goudal's landscapes-within-landscapes is made possible by her use of polystyrene as a substrate on which to affix her fragmented images; by applying acetone over the course of single continuous take, she alludes to how micro-plastics embedded in the earth's sediment have become a marker for the temporal delineation of the Anthropocene. Conceptually entangling fossil-fuelled chemicals with the organic. Goudal makes visible the geology that humans are creating and its modification of the material reality of planet earth. For 25 Baker St., Goudal has created a specially conceived unique print of Supra Strata, distilling the complex machinations of geographic flux and disintegration into a single frame.
Since 2012, Derwent London and Edel Assanti have worked closely to commission and acquire artworks that respond to and activate the architectural environments of Derwent's Central London portfolio. These include Ciels by Noémie Goudal, created at Stephen Street whilst the building was still at shell and core stage, and Mass by Marcin Dudek, which appropriates and abstracts the architectural fabric of Soho Place. Both commissions marked each artist's first publicly exhibited work at the largest project they had realised to that point in their careers. Together, these collaborations have provided a crucial platform for artists to develop and present ambitious new work at pivotal moments in their practice. In 2024, Derwent London provided critical seed funding for Noémie Goudal to realise Supra Strata, part of her presentation for the Prix Marcel Duchamp at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The film is now on permanent display at 25 Baker St.
Noémie Goudal (b. 1984) has developed an internationally recognised practice that expands the boundaries of photography. A graduate of the Royal College of Art (2010), she has exhibited at leading institutions included the Museé du Louvre, Tate Modern and Centre Pompidou. In spring 2027, she will be subject of a major solo exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, which will travel to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and LACMA. Her work is held in prominent public collections such as Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2024, Goudal is widely regarded as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary photography. Goudal lives and works in Paris.