Genesis - 2013

Prune Nourry presented the exhibition Genesis in the eighteenth-century Casino Venier during the 2013 Venice Biennale. The casini that sprang up in seventeenth-century Italy were venues for intimate pleasures, ranging from games of love and chance to literary salons. In the midst of a journey through time, the artist explores the myth of Creation, while invoking the themes of gender and the relationship between religion and sexuality.

The exhibition's title also refers to the genesis of sculpture, which Prune Nourry addresses in her work through a variety of media and disciplines. According to the three monotheistic religions, the first man was modelled from clay by a "potter" God who then brought him to life with his breath. Prune Nourry orchestrates the iconography of Adam and Eve in two films, firstly conjuring up an Adam, played by dancer Simon Courchel, superimposed on her own hands as they knead the clay with which he gradually covers his body, sculpting himself in an act of self-creation.