YOUNG EUROPEAN ARTISTS

Young European Artists Brussels presented “Chu!te,” an exhibition by Lyon-based engraver Valentin Capony, devoted to an exploration of falling through engraving, performance, and video. Held from October 26 to November 5, 2023, the exhibition invited visitors to discover a narrative of the ephemeral, where gesture, body, and imprint meet on paper and on screen. In an experimental approach, the artist fused the traditional practice of engraving with performance, combining the repetitive gesture of drypoint work with the unpredictability of bodily movement. This approach redefines engraving as a form of expression that fully engages the body and reveals the traces of movement imprinted on the medium.

Born in Lyon in 1990 and based in Brussels, Valentin Capony develops work marked by precision of gesture and attention to process. Usually working standing up on large metal plates, he inscribes meticulous grooves that become the matrices for his prints. With “Chu!te,” he has opened a new phase of creation by exploring the technique of monotype and directly recording the imprints of the falling body.

The exhibition offered a collaborative approach combining performance, video, and engraving around the idea of falling, seen as an involuntary act resulting from a loss of balance. In collaboration with dancer-performers Mathilde Gluk and Juliette Otter, and documented by video artist Dounia Jauneaud, the project resulted in large monotypes created from the imprints left by moving bodies on inked plates. Through repetition of the gesture, these traces are transformed into landscapes where the violence of impact meets the delicacy of paper.

With “Chu!te,” Valentin Capony offered a sensitive reflection on accidents, traces, and the ephemeral, inviting the audience to immerse themselves poetically in the experience of movement and its imprints.