Helen Marten's latest creation, \"30 Blizzards.,\" evokes the intricate character development seen in literary masterpieces, where every individual, even minor ones, possesses a rich inner existence. Currently captivating audiences in Paris, this Turner Prize-winning artist's work at the Palais d'Iéna offers a similarly profound and multifaceted experience. The exhibition, a sprawling installation featuring five large sculptures composed of everyday objects like sofa cushions, brass sheets, and wine-stained corks, invites visitors into a scene ripe for interpretation. Interspersed throughout are screens displaying surreal video montages and evocative indoor scenes, accompanied by monologues exploring themes of innocence, desire, and sorrow. Thirty unique figures, dressed in distinctive attire, inhabit the space, sometimes isolated and contemplative, at other times converging on the central stage for interactions involving dialogue and music. This immersive environment, presented by Miu Miu as part of Art Basel Paris's public program, is best understood as a fragmented opera, a collaboration with theater director Fabio Cherstich and electronic music producer Beatrice Dillon, rooted in a libretto authored by Marten herself.
The richness of Marten's vision becomes apparent in the diverse characters she creates. As Marten explains, these 30 figures embody various archetypes, physical traits, weather phenomena, or animalistic qualities, forming 'atomized slivers of a recognizable yet geographically unidentifiable world.' Each character, whether 'The Builder,' 'The Fox,' or 'The Mother,' is a distinct 'blizzard,' a vivid portrayal of human experience, carrying a specific prop—like black leather gloves for 'The Dentist' or pink balls for 'The Dog'—that metaphorically represents their essence. This venture marks Marten's first significant foray into performance, a step encouraged by an invitation from the Fondazione Prada. Although the inclusion of living bodies in her art is novel, it represents a natural progression in her practice, as her previous works often alluded to the body's relationship with objects and language. Indeed, language, particularly written expression, has always been central to Marten's artistic endeavors, as evidenced by her novel, \"The Boiled in Between.\" Her sculptures, paintings, and drawings are built upon systematic logics that mirror how verbal language constructs meaning, arranging objects and images according to formal grammars that are both followed and subverted to convey complex thoughts and emotions.
As Fabio Cherstich notes, it was Marten's fragmented, suggestive, and non-linear use of language that truly shaped the dramaturgy of \"30 Blizzards.\" In this work, words are not merely scripts to be recited but scores to be embodied, spoken, sung, and broken, transforming voice into rhythm, breath, and atmosphere. Meaning emerges not from explicit clarity but from density, tension, and inherent instability. Despite its intricate and unconventional nature, Marten's latest exhibition possesses a remarkable sense of familiarity. Much like her earlier works, which drew attention to the tangible qualities of objects and materials, evoking a visceral understanding of their textures and relationships, \"30 Blizzards.\" achieves a similar effect. It taps into an embodied, primal comprehension of life experiences that often eludes verbal articulation. While the exhibition's complexity can be disorienting, its ability to communicate profound insights is surprisingly direct. Ultimately, while language serves as the conceptual framework for this exhibition, its true success lies in its transcendence of the very tools it employs, leaving viewers with a deeply felt yet ineffable understanding.