“Each species is a patchwork of parts taken from other species. We, living species, have never ceased exchanging pieces, lines, and organs.” (1)

For the gallery’s signature space, Le salon, the artist duo Xolo Cuintle presents the series 1 and 1 is 3, a series of bi-composite bas-reliefs in concrete and ceramic. These diachronic botanical panels illustrate how two interdependent lives synchronize around a single shared cycle to the point of forming one and the same body.
While the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), a small bird from the Corvidae family, buries beech seeds (Fagus sylvatica) to build up winter reserves—thereby effectively planting them—the Chiastocheta fly (Chiastocheta), a small insect from the Anthomyiidae family, is drawn to the globeflower (Trollius europaeus), where it finds a nest to lay its larvae while simultaneously enabling the flower’s pollination.
All these organic mechanisms bear witness to the fragile reproductive cycles at the core of our ecosystem. The proximity of these symbiotic lives inspires the duo to develop a new iconographic and ornamental repertoire. These combinations, blending fauna and flora, give rise to a new typology of hybrid species: Garrulus Fagus, Chiastocheta Europaeus, Cypripedium Vatia, Phengaris Vulgaris…

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(1) Emanuele Coccia, Metamorphoses, Payot & Rivages, Paris, 2020, pp. 14–15.