Caroline Corbasson
The French-Canadian artist Caroline Corbasson’s (*1989) work engages with the position of the human within the universe through scientific and collective imaginaries associated with astro physics and cosmology. Her interdisciplinary practice unfolds at the intersection of research and the immediate experience of observing the sky, articulating a dialogue between empirical knowledge and the subjective perception of cosmic space.
Working across painting, drawing, analogue photography, sculpture and film, the artist explores the tension between scientific and everyday understandings of the universe. Through an open approach, she connects diverse fields of knowledge – from astronomy and geology to botany – while deliberately refusing disciplinary boundaries. A defining characteristic of her practice is a reduced materiality and a precise choice of media, including charcoal, dust, ink and graphite. Their restrained aesthetic slows down the visual experience, creating space for contemplation in an era saturated with image production.
Long-term collaborations with scientific institutions and observatories allow her to enter research environments and transform their atmospheres and findings into experimental projects. These works encourage a shift beyond an anthropocentric perspective and articulate new relationships between perception, time, space and scale. The series Poem Paintings, inspired by the threshold between terrestrial and cosmic skies, further develops this line of inquiry through paintings accompanied by artist-written texts produced in parallel with the creative process. Here, text does not function as explanation but as an addition al layer of the image – a record of intimate thought structures and the temporality of observation.
Caroline Corbasson lives and works in Paris. She studied at Central Saint Martins in London and at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her work has been presented at numerous international institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Par is, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Newcastle, the Song-Won Art Center in Seoul, the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles and MOCO La Panacée in Montpellier.
