Ina Mihalache
Les buveuses d'eau - Installation - 2017
presented as part of the exhibition panorama 19
Three chair-bathtubs are gathered together in
the exhibition space. They offer to take charge of
the bodies of visitors who, seduced by their song
the way we’d be by that of the mermaids, will
dare to sit down in their “berth.”
You then slip into a utopian environment
imagined for your well-being.
In this pram for adults in the shape of an ear,
strangely salutary sentences are whispered to
you. You can lean against it. You are encouraged
to let yourself go: absolute relaxation in every
limb, every part of your body, including your
head, for you have crossed the threshold
of a state that avoids productive purposes.
Deactivation of the social environment.
You experience a peculiar quality of absence.
Sounds and voices reach you through a pipe,
amplifying your feeling of immersion. With
a faraway look in your eyes, you float: catharsis
is slowly liquid. You could remain like this for
a whole day, indeed for your whole life. But you
recognise Henri Michaux’s words, which already
resonated earlier in your hiding place. Now’s the
time for the return journey onboard the capsule
that seems to come from the end of the world.
“Devotees of the simple perspective may be tempted to judge all my writings as those of a drug addict.” Henri Michaux, Miserable Miracle
Ina Mihalache
After studying History of Art at the University of Montreal, Ina Mihalache came to Paris and studied acting at the Cours Florent. After failing the Conservatoire entrance exams she worked as a camera operator/editor for television documentaries, while also developing video installations. In 2011 she discovered YouTube and created the channel “Solange te parle.” She has an audience of 350,000, has published some two hundred videos, works with Radio France, has directed a first feature film, has published three books and sometimes acts in the theatre.
