The context

The MRES team wishes to promote the values defended in its activities by commissioning an artist to produce an emblematic work.

The Regional House of the Environment and Solidarity provides logistical support to member associations, leads the network and consultation between institutional and associative actors, and manages the regional information and documentation centre. On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, MRES wanted to create a work of art that conveys civic values and respect for the environment, and reaffirm its openness to the general public. The collective of artists Qubo Gas has created a digital work : a digital animation in the form of a computer program hosted on the Internet and an installation. The graphic elements that make up these landscapes proliferate, spread, merge to form a hybrid territory in perpetual mutation.

The commission

In response to the commission, Qubo Gas proposes a digital work: an evolving landscape, a graphic microcosm. The work is a digital animation in the form of a computer program hosted on the Internet (MRES website http://www.mres-asso.org) and an installation to be presented on the one hand in the contemporary art world and on the other hand in the exhibitions and other events in which MRES participates. The work is based on the notion of network and is inspired by a simple life system to make landscapes evolve. Several landscape zones are defined and created element by element through a system of cooperation between individuals from different communities. The graphic elements that make up these landscapes proliferate, spread, merge to form a hybrid territory in perpetual mutation. The main themes are networking, collaboration, solidarity, the territory and the environment.

Qubo Gas

Qubo Gas is a collective of artists, Laura Henno, Jef Ablézot and Morgan Dimnet, created in 2000 and based in Lille. Their achievements confront different media : illustration, wall drawing, digital animation, interactive program, performance, installation. Their work is part of a drawing practice that is punctually confronted with computer tools. Handmade and computer technologies intersect and respond to each other as their projects unfold. Qubo Gas develops a graphic research at the origin of a surreal universe evolving between abstraction and figuration. Their compositions create a world of offbeat poetry. Music is an important component often integrated into their projects. Chaotic and abundant landscapes, explosive microcosms, wild gardens constitute an abstract and imaginary environment. In 2003-2004, for Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Grass (Production du Fresnoy, national studio of contemporary arts), the graphic elements of the virtual and evolving plant microcosm are determined by the meteorological data provided by the Metar system (international internet weather system used by airports). In 2007, Qubo Gas created Watercouleur Park, an interactive graphic composition for the Tate Modern in London. Each of their illustrations is full of details, superimpositions of elements and colours. Their compositions, often described as fanciful or naive, radiate a fragile and poetic atmosphere.