Organoid project: a new artwork on display in the CIS

On June 16, a new artwork from the Organoid project joined the existing collection exhibited in the CIS hall. The painting "Giant Monkey" was installed alongside a vase by the artist Barthélemy Toguo, the digital artwork "Cosmologie du Vivant" by Miguel Chevalier, and "Decorative Dangerous Disease" by Hervé Di Rosa, at an event attended by the artist, Françoise Pétrovitch, the Institut Pasteur President Stewart Cole, and Olivier Schwartz, head of the Virus and Immunity Unit and coordinator of the Organoid project.

Françoise Pétrovitch was born in Chambéry in 1964 and currently lives and works in Cachan. She teaches at the École Estienne in Paris. Among the numerous materials and techniques used by Françoise Pétrovitch – ceramics, glass, paint and lately video – drawing is a particular focus for the artist and central to her work, representing freedom and the spontaneity of a gesture that immediately and faithfully reflects her frame of mind.

Through her work, Françoise Pétrovitch shows an ambivalent universe, where childhood images are replaced by strange figures playing with the boundaries between female and male, humans and animals.

For the Organoid project, Françoise Pétrovitch met the scientist Michaela Müller-Trutwin, head of the HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit at the Institut Pasteur. Together they reflected on the research conducted by the scientist in relation to HIV. Michaela Müller-Trutwin particularly presented her studies aimed at understanding the pathophysiology of AIDS, and why certain primates, such as green monkeys, naturally control the virus without developing the disease.

The Organoid project developed from encounters between scientists and artists. Its scientific coordination is provided by Olivier Schwartz and the project is supported by the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.
 

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Françoise Pétrovitch
Giant Monkey
Lavis d’encre sur papier, 2020 160 x 120 cm
Courtesy Galerie Keza