Smoke gets in your eyes
Wie Oft Noch • 2023Titled after the eponymous piece performed on piano by Oscar Peterson in the 1950 version, the original song's lyrics convey a romance, illustrating how love both inflames and blinds us, hence the phrase Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.
Listening to the piano, I've always imagined that Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was the feeling of holding back tears, like trying to keep a clear vision and not being submerged by emotions. In this work, the eye is analogous to the surveillance camera. The smoke could be that of an accident captured by the camera — a fire, tear gas, vandalism, or a gunshot. Meanwhile, the smoke would blind the camera in grays.
While waiting for the train, I noticed that the surveillance camera was crowned with spikes to keep pigeons away. This reminded me of the flower spikes used in Ikebana. I invited the artist Maomì Meindl to do the flower arrangement for this piece
Exhibition displaying works by Camille Dumond, Olga Monina, Thomas Werner and Andrea Marcellier