Haonan He — Mandala-Cartographie, 2024–2026
Haonan He — Opium-Arium, 2024–2026

For Jeune création internationale, Haonan He continues his investigation into the poppy, from which opium is derived. Three mandala maps trace the historical and speculative trajectories of this plant, shifting cartography – traditionally a tool for controlling territories – towards a sensitive and spiritual space where colonial, economic, and imaginary histories intersect. Subjective in nature, they assert the situated position of the artist-researcher while questioning the relationship between academic and artistic discourse. In a second room, Opium-Arium unfolds a field of ceramic poppies depicting the plant’s various stages of growth. An olfactory composition evoking opium fills the room, extending the plant’s cycle to its final transformation: smoke. By shifting the focus from its product to its life cycle, Haonan He sheds light on the systems that have shaped its cultivation, circulation, and perception.

At the intersection of research and artistic production, Haonan He’s practice focuses on psychoactive plants and the systems that regulate their use, circulation, and perception. His immersive installations connect extractive and postcolonial economies, control mechanisms, and transnational infrastructures by tracing the movement of these plants from the Golden Triangle to Europe. He also pays particular attention to smell and smoke, which he mobilizes as sensory vectors of knowledge, bringing together embodied experience and geopolitical analysis.