Signals From Afar

For her second solo show at Galerie Foco, Clara Imbert presents a series of fundamental, unearthly pieces. Made of opaque steel, they strike us in their symmetry and ethereal character, and make us wonder about their provenance. These forms are neither natural nor human. They came to us from afar. Signals from afar departs the story of Orgueil, a meteorite which landed on Earth in 1864 and sparked animated debates about the potential for extraterrestrial life. Speculating on this story and its possible contemporary continuity, Clara Imbert brings to life at Foco objects of ambiguous status that might have come along with Orgueil at the time of its impact with Earth. Thus gathered, they seem to challenge us: Can humans listen to alien wisdom and accept its impenetrability? The first visible work is central and frontal. Circular and two meters high, ‘Portal’ (2024) acts as an introduction to the rest of the works. It signals that, once we step through the door, we go beyond the limits of the rules that usually govern our understanding of the world. There, time is no longer linear, writing is indecipherable and the sound we perceive, imagined by artist Hiroma Keo as an echo of the antennae in the basement (‘Search for absence’ - 2024), doesn’t seem to propagate properly, riddled with interference. We come to realise that we are in an alternative, liminal reality, where our language and that of another dimension suddenly become intertwined. The exhibition doesn’t follow a traditional narrative thread, it is read in two stages, unfolding between the space above and that below. Above, the first space is composed of three pieces in stainless steel and stone, transposed here as riddles daring to be solved. ‘Portal’ (2024) acts as a dimensional breach, while ‘Astra-Codex’ (2024) is its Rosetta stone, and ‘Runes’ the geometric keys to decode it. The two spaces are connected by a void, an absence inhabited by a monumental antenna emerging from below, which, erected between worlds, seeks to convey a message. As we descend, the keys take the form of metallic aerial maps (‘Orgueil’ - 2024), placing the moment of the meteorite’s impact in a familiar geography. When we reach the basement, the maps materialise as a topography of black sand where a series of antennae (‘Search for Absence’ - 2024) take the form of a multiplied magnetic field. The installation seems to demonstrate Clara Imbert’s desire to see the unknown is finally listened to. At the edge of the topography, echoing the black quartz sand, Orgueil (‘Meteorite’ - 2024) finally appears, levitating in its impeccable and gutted vessel. Like open claws, this piece has done what the others have failed to do - let itself be discovered. The sculptures in Signals from afar invite us to meditate on our present time and dream of other possibilities where we would no longer seek to fill absence. Thanks to the time-warp spell cast by Clara Imbert, these possibilities, once seemingly afar, are now suddenly within reach.