‘Gakona’ at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (12.2 – 03.5.2009).
Gakona is made up of 4 solo-shows: Micol Assaël, Ceal Floyer, Laurent Grasso and Roman Signer. In this video by Christophe Ecoffet, Laurent Grasso talks about his work.
Roman Signer
Laurent Grasso
Gakona is a small village in the center of Alaska. Gakona, that’s a few houses, a service station, a post office, and – the American research program HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program). Inspired by the work of Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), researchers there are studying the possibility of the wireless transmission of electricity by means of ionizing the high strata of the atmosphere. But because of its military funding and the phantasms associated with electromagnetism since the 19th century, HAARP has also become an inexhaustible source of rumors: Climatic disruption, influence on human behavior, etc.
And that’s what the Gakona session at the contemporary art center Palais de Tokyo in Paris relates to: Gakona at the Palais de Tokyo lies at the intersection of fact and rumor, reality and phantasm, science and imagination.
