Smith (stylized as SMITH; born 1985)[1] is a French transdisciplinary artist-researcher. Smith experiments with and explores the links between contemporary humanity and its boundary figures - ghosts, mutants, hybrids - engaging his own body and that of his collaborators - writers, astronauts, shamans, engineers, designers, performers or composers - in indisciplinary projects. Disturbing genres, languages and disciplines, Smith proposes curious works, in the etymological sense of cura: curiosity and care for the world around us, the terrestrial and the celestial, the human and the non-human, the visible and the invisible, imagination and fiction. Thermal cameras, drones, neon lights, implantations of electronic chips and subcutaneous meteorites, atomic mutations or trance practices characterise his fluid work composed with technological and spiritual means that incorporate the dimensions of mystery and dream.[2][3]
Smith's initial artistic medium was photography; later installations include a variety of media. His work, both plastic and theoretical, is now described as "indisciplinary".[5] Smith has engaged in collaborations with scientific and philosophical research teams and labs - such as the French National Centre for Scientific Research in 2012,[6] and the IRAP (Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie) in 2018.[7]
In the interactive installation "Cellulairement" (2012), a thermal capture device in the installation space was connected to an electronic chip implanted in Smith's body, allowing Smith to feel the presence of viewers.[5][8]
Many of Smith's early works explore questions of gender and personal identity. The idea of transition is a central element of his artistic practice.[5] French photographer and photography specialist Arnaud Claass wrote about Smith's work, in the preface of Smith's first monographic book: "There is no mystery; Smith's approach to the visible, at once luminarist and dark, is valid as an image of the uncertainty of sexual roles. Questions of gender, a current in philosophy over the last twenty years or more, occupy an important place in the intellectual development of [Smith's] oeuvre.".[9] Along with French curator Nadège Piton, Smith wrote the book "Transgalactic" in 2020 about queer & trans presences in contemporary photography, and curated the eponymous exhibition presented in March 2023 at La Filature, Mulhouse.
His most recent projects are "Spectrographies" (2014), "TRAUM" (2015–18), "Saturnium" (2017) and "Desideration" (2019–2021). They were presented during cinema festivals in Europe, at the Centre Pompidou, and Théâtre de la Cité Internationale (Paris), at the CND (Pantin), at the Dance Museum (Rennes) and at the CCN-ICI (Montpellier).
Smith's visual works were exhibited as solo shows at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie (Arles), at the Filles du Calvaire gallery and Palais de Tokyo (Paris), at the Photographic Museum of Helsinki (Finland), as well as several countries in Europe (Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland), Asia (China, Cambodia, South Korea) and Latin America (Mexico, Chile, Uruguay).
Smith is represented by Christophe Gaillard gallery in Paris. He is currently an associate artist at La Filature - Scène Nationale in Mulhouse, and laureate of the 2023 Villa Albertine in partnership with the French writer Marie NDiaye.
Publications
His first book, "Löyly" (Filigranes) was published in 2013, followed by "Saturnium" (Actes Sud) in 2017, a long-length interview by art historian Christine Ollier in 2017, "Juste entre nous" (André Frère), the opera booklet "Astroblème" (Filigranes), and the traval-photobook "Valparaiso" (André Frère).
Dorothée Smith (préf. Arnaud Claass), Löyly & Sub Limis, Le Château d’Eau, 2011 (ISBN978-29-19398-03-4)
2009: Nuit Blanche, Chapelle de la maternité Sainte Croix, Metz,[13] avec une performance de Sir Alice
2011–2015: Löyly, 4th festival Photo Phnom Penh, Institut Français du Cambodge (commissariat de Christian Caujolle[14]); Encontros da Imagem,[15] Brago, Portugal; Festival Photofolies,[16] Rodez; The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finlande[17]
