Hicham Berrada

Présage 21/02/2015 06h21, 2015

Hicham Berrada’s works are often based on his scientific understanding of chemistry, but he combines this knowledge with methods of artistic experimentation. The performance series Présage shows landscapes emerging inside a jar. By gradually adding to the water different elements, such as iron, copper and tin, in a jar with acid or alkaline mixtures, a spectacle of unknown forms unfolds. Berrada’s approach to nature is a collaborative process within which nature itself becomes creatively active. He compares his process to that of a painter, making the specific parameters of his chemical artistic practice even clearer: “Are we with or in (nature)? Are we in a dialogue with it?” (H.B.) Berrada avoids any kind of postproduction work on his videos, which for him are as much a document as an autonomous work of art.