[Incursion] S’étouffer par son propre souffle, a permanent installation by Jean Julien-Ney

Echoing the mechanisms of pre-cinema, this vision device, installed in darkness, offers a perceptual experience in which matter and space seem to unfold with a slight delay.

The work investigates the production and origins of images, blurring the boundaries between the real and the virtual, as well as between haptic experience and the photographic image's ultra-realism.

Jean-Julien Ney's practice is grounded in the interplay between sculpture and photography, most often taking the form of installations. Working within the field of media archaeology, he examines technologies of image recording and dissemination while questioning the conventions that shape them.

A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Lyon (ENSBA Lyon) in 2014, Jean-Julien Ney has been a resident artist at the Ateliers du CAP since 2024. His work has been presented at Thaddaeus Ropac, the 64th Salon de Montrouge, Circa Art Actuel (Montreal), and Frac Grand Large — Hauts-de-France. He has also undertaken research and residency projects with Frac Grand Large and 40mcube.

He is currently collaborating with students from INSA Lyon on an automated sculpture project that brings together mechanical engineering, simulations of living systems, and the study of water stress in maize plants.