Céline Mathieu

Céline Mathieu (b. 1989, Belgium) is an artist and writer. Her practice is often site and condition specific, using sound, scent, sculpture, performance, text and different materials in performative installations. The work is both sensory and conceptual. Her work looks into the circulation of thoughts and materials. Material and economic cycles merge with hyper-personal items, resulting in fluid work that cannot quite be pinned down.

Céline Mathieu's research Conditions for Raw Materials considers how to make exhibitions without being left with storage after the show. She looks into the subjectivity of value; how value and worth shift depending on context, sometimes pulling her own economic working conditions into the work. Lastly, the research considers the place of text as a speculative and archival tool, hoping to store the invisible labour and the layered experience of exhibition viewing in a more meaningful way.

During her residency at Jester, Céline develops new works for her upcoming duo exhibition with Aaron Amar Bhamra. She is looking at ways of re-wiring budgets, and valuing personal relations. Other voices are pulled in, literally and figuratively, to make evocative new works, considering the architecture and geolocation of Jester. Friendships, thoughts, money, and affects circulate and temporarily halt in Genk.

Céline Mathieu had recent solo exhibitions at PLUS-ONE Gallery (Antwerp), Sentiment (Zurich) and Gr_und (Berlin). In 2025 she will have solo exhibitions at Gauli Zitter (Brussels), Kunsthalle Trondheim, and a commission at Celador, alongside a duo exhibition at Jester. She was part of group exhibitions at Fondation CAB (Brussels), Gauli Zitter (Brussels), Kunsthal Extra City (Antwerp), Galerie Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), La Virreina (Barcelona), Mu.Zee (Ostend), Corridor and PuntWG (Amsterdam), CLAPTRAP and AAIR (Antwerp). Her sound work was recently aired on Cashmere Radio (Berlin), Retreat Radio (Malmö) and on Montez Press Radio (New York/London).

With her duo CMMC she presented at Museum M, Leuven; 019/SMAK, Publiek Park Ghent; M HKA Lodgers, Antwerp and they had a solo exhibition at IKOB Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen.

Her research ‘Conditions for Raw Materials’ was supported by the Royal Academy Antwerp in 2022-2023 and she was a participant at Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht in 2023-2024. Céline’s work was recently featured in Mousse Magazine n° 81.

Image information:

1. Mange d'haleine, Installation view, 2022, Sound, object, performativity at Gr_und Berlin, image: Gr_und
   Discarded Togo sofa by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset; 1973, found in the streets by Jan Fack, borrowed PVC curtain —our shower curtain, a second one was purchased and will be returned after the exhibition, probiotic infused garments designed and produced by textile chemist Rosie Broadhead, sound installation voice: Céline Mathieu; music: Levi Lanser, Josefin Granqvist's mere presence at the opening.
2. Mange d'haleine, Detail, 2022, Sound, object, performativity at Gr_und Berlin, image: Gr_und
   Discarded Togo sofa by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset; 1973, found in the streets by Jan Fack, borrowed PVC curtain —our shower curtain, a second one was purchased and will be returned after the exhibition, probiotic infused garments designed and produced by textile chemist Rosie Broadhead, sound installation voice: Céline Mathieu; music: Levi Lanser, Josefin Granqvist's mere presence at the opening.
3. Miners’ Breakfast, 2024, Sculpture at Fondation CAB Brussels, image: Lars Duchateau
   3D-printed UV-cured eggs, two-component epoxy resin beer and whiskey imitations, technical skills of sculptors Kasper De Vos and Mathias MU exchanged for application texts.
4. Income, 2023, Object at Gauli Zitter Brussels, image: Gauli Zitter
   Designer handbag bought at price of artist fee for a previous exhibition—kept by artist, sold as artwork or resold on online platform, barcoded sales label, hardboiled egg.
5. ECONOMY OF MEANS, 2022-23, Sound, object, scent at Sentiment, Zürich, image: Philipp Rupp and Julien Gremaud
   Scent by Theresa Zwerschke, purchased pre-loved wedding ring— bought with the images the ring was being sold with online, kitchen for the gallery, borrowed broth recipe from Sayuri Sakairi, living elements from Sentiment, inhabited exhibition space, dance rehearsal recordings from ballerina Allison Lang, poster by artist Henrik Potter, sound collaboration with Levi Lanser.
6. Case, 2022, Sound, Object at Studiolo Belleville/Sentiment, Paris, image by the artist
   Designer bag bought at price of artist fee, sold, re-sold or kept by the artist after the show; borrowed handbag content; spoken text found on online forum; piano music by Justin Raym)