Au fond du Nombril
A live-streamed, fictive surgical operation unfolds as one story told through two narrations—where fragments of real medical archives become a memoir, and memories transform into a medical report.
“Au fond du Nombril” explores the exposure of intimacy during surgical procedures and how these interventions entangle with familial identity. It examines how laparoscopic instruments mediate the experience, creating a sense of estrangement between reality, vision, and sensation—through narratives centered on the navel, a tangible yet often overlooked site of origin.
1.4m x 0.65m x 1.25m (WxDxH)
Materials: thermoplastic, metal, plexiglass, silicone tubes, Arduino, motors, LED strips, endoscope camera, screen, paper, and surgical sutures.
2025
Exhibited at:
2025 Hollows, Espace Dukat, Geneva, Switzerland
The installation consists of a set of laparoscopic tools, a screen connected to a laparoscopic camera, a plastic belly sculpture resembling a tumor, a collage book of medical documents bound with surgical sutures, and a text written in the form of a medical report. As the audience approaches, the belly gradually turns from white to pink. The instruments begin the operation: flipping through the book hidden inside the belly. The audience can read the collage through the live-streamed screen or by peering through openings in the sculpture. Once the last page is reached, the laparoscopic clamps close the book, and the camera exits the belly through the “navel.” The sculpture fades back to white, ending the procedure.
