Born from a collaboration with researcher Sebastian Santiago Urioste, the installation Lucioles examines the forms of social and political engagement that K-pop fan communities can deploy, taking as its starting point a key object of this culture: the lightstick. This glowing baton, a commercial item bearing a group's branding and waved during concerts, crystallizes the entire ambivalence of the K-pop movement, serving as both a carefully calibrated marketing product and the cradle of an often highly engaged fandom.
Lucioles explores how a significant portion of the K-pop community has built its struggles from within its own culture: using its codes and rituals, as well as digital tools like memes and viral internet dynamics, to gather and champion causes collectively.
Visitors enter a forest of lights. With a lightstick in hand, they wander among dozens of batons gathered into clusters of about ten, each materializing a specific political or social event rooted in a particular time and place. Each luminous constellation recounts fragments of the memory of a moment of mobilization, a collective voice that has successfully transformed its own cultural references into a tool for advocacy.
Born from a collaboration with researcher Sebastian Santiago Urioste, the installation Lucioles examines the forms of social and political engagement that K-pop fan communities can develop, taking as its starting point a key object of this culture: the lightstick. This luminous baton, commercial merchandise bearing the image of a group and waved during concerts, embodies the full ambivalence of the K-pop phenomenon: at once a carefully calibrated marketing product and the cradle of a fandom that is often politically engaged.
Lucioles explores how a large part of the K-pop community has built its struggles from within its own culture: through its codes and rituals, but also through the use of digital tools such as memes and the viral dynamics of the internet, enabling people to gather and advocate for causes collectively.
The visitor enters a forest of lights. With a lightstick in hand, they wander among dozens of batons grouped into small clusters of about ten units, each representing a specific political or social event rooted in a particular time and place. Each luminous constellation tells fragments of the memory of a moment of mobilization, a collective voice that succeeded in transforming its own cultural references into a tool of protest.
Work conceived in collaboration by artist Arthur Baude and researcher Sebastian Urioste (PoLiCÉMIES laboratory, La Rochelle Université). An exclusive creation for the ZERO1 Festival, made possible through a partnership with La Rochelle Université. This work is part of the EXCELLR project (PIA 4 “Excellence in all its forms”) and is funded under France 2030 with the reference ANR21EX ES0010.
Developed as a collaboration between artist Arthur Baude and researcher Sebastian Urioste ( PoLiCÉMIES research unit, La Rochelle Université). An exclusive creation for the ZERO1 Festival, made possible through a partnership with La Rochelle Université. This work is produced within the framework of the EXCELLR project (PIA 4 “Excellence in all its forms”) and is funded under France 2030 bearing the reference ANR21EX ES0010.
Arthur Baude is passionate about imagery in all its forms.
With a background in graphic design, he crossed paths with the La Main collective, with whom he was able to develop the artistic side of his work.
At the same time, he taught himself interactive electronics. This experience opened up the world of fablabs and maker spaces, where he cut his teeth on digital fabrication machines.
He uses this technical range to design and build poetic machines and installations that would have no place in an industrial environment. His work revolves around two main themes:
the creation of micro-universes that occupy space through light, and the creation of sensitive machines.
Particularly interested in the possibilities offered by alternative systems for creating and projecting images, he seeks to repurpose them, finding new ways to create visuals and fix them onto various media. To do this, he builds devices that look like mechanical monsters, standing in contrast to the sleek, closed-off devices we use every day.
He navigates between different disciplines (digital art, video art, interactive design, live video...) and different environments (digital art, VJing, performing arts, the maker community). He wanders between hacker spaces, fablabs, and artistic creation venues, drawing inspiration and blending the influences of these various circles.
