23 May 2016

The Ultra Laboratory: Tom Bogaert's Voyage Voyage in Casablanca

Tom Bogaert's 'Voyage, voyage' will be presented in Casablanca, Morocco at The Ultra Laboratory and Galerie Fatma Jellal from June 2 through June 16, 2016. Following an academic presentation of the project in the early evening of Thursday June 2 at The Ultra Laboratory, the audience will be invited to walk to Galerie Fatma Jellal for the second part of the exhibition. The two sites are within 15 minutes walking distance and this evening stroll will constitute a performative and integral part of the project.

'Voyage, voyage' (2014-2016) is an ongoing work that deals with migration and curatorial romanticism through the figure of the strawberry plant—a radicant, or meandering plant forever on the move. The project, while research-based, includes material realisations: an experimental greenhouse for growing strawberry plants; an online archive of the project accessed through QR codes printed in strawberry jam; a publication in collaboration with Rita Alaoui; a video cover by v5mt; artificial flower arrangements; a performance; and a nourishing soundtrack for healthful strawberry plants by Mourad Belouadi.

All of this work stems from a residency spent with the Swiss collective Utopiana in Geneva and working visits to Casablanca where Tom Bogaert grew strawberry plants and conducted musical, botanical and artistic experiments on them to test claims that these plants—and by theoretical extension the peregrine artist or curator they represent—will survive after their first roots have been cut off.