1 and 1 is 3

"Each species is a patchwork of parts taken from other species. We, the living species, have never stopped exchanging parts, lines and organs"¹. For the gallery's signature space, Le salon, artist duo Xolo Cuintle presents "1 and 1 is 3", a series of bi-composite concrete and ceramic bas-reliefs. These diachronic botanical boards illustrate how two co-dependent lives synchronize around a single cycle to the point of forming a single body. While the Jay (Garrulus glandarius), a small bird, buries the seeds of the Beech Tree (Fagus sylvatica) simultaneously sowing the tree whilst storing provisions for the winter, the Chiastocheta (Chiastocheta), a type of fly, finds its nest in the Globe Flower (Trollius europaeus) to lay its larvae and pollinate the flower at the same time. All these organic gears bear witness to the precarious reproductive cycle at the root of our ecosystem. The promiscuity of these symbiotic lives inspires the duo to create a new iconographic and ornamental repertoire. These combinations of flora and fauna creates a new typology of hybrid species: Garrulus Fagus, Chiastocheta Europaeus, Cypripedium Vatia, Phengaris Vulgaris... 1. Translated from « Chacune des espèces est un patchwork de morceaux prélevés sur d’autres espèces. Nous, les espèces vivantes, n’avons jamais cessé de nous échanger des pièces, des lignes, des organes », Emanuèle Coccia, Métamorphoses, Payot & Rivages, Paris, 2020, p.14-15