{"id":785022,"date":"2026-09-28T06:46:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T06:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/785022\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T06:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T06:46:36","slug":"celeste-boursier-mougenot-takes-clinamen-outdoors-in-athens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/785022\/","title":{"rendered":"c\u00e9leste boursier-mougenot takes clinamen outdoors in athens"},"content":{"rendered":"

C\u00c9LESTE BOURSIER-MOUGENOT TAKES CLINAMEN OUTDOORS in athens<\/p>\n

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After floating through the grand interiors<\/a> of Paris\u2019 Bourse de Commerce<\/a> and New York\u2019s Park Avenue Armory, C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot<\/a>\u2019s clinamen is moving outside. From September 26th to December 5th, 2026, the French artist\u2019s endlessly shifting sound installation<\/a> occupies the renovated <\/a>Onassis Mandra in Athens, where hundreds of white porcelain bowls drift across three circular pools, colliding softly to create an ever-changing aquatic score.<\/p>\n

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First conceived in 1997, clinamen has never been a fixed installation<\/a>. Water, porcelain bowls, circular basins, and the gentle currents set the vessels in motion, and yet every presentation produces a different configuration, sound, and rhythm. More than twenty iterations have followed the original work, each adjusted to the architecture and acoustics of its host.<\/p>\n

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For its latest version, the biggest variable is no longer simply the building around it. For the first time, clinamen is being presented outdoors, exposing the work to the particular conditions of its new setting in the center of Athens. At Onassis Mandra, the bowls share their soundscape with the city, as well as with shifting sunlight, wind, voices, surrounding sounds, and potentially rain. The move outside is also a departure for Boursier-Mougenot himself, who had previously resisted the idea. \u2018People wanted to put it outside. I said no. It\u2019s an indoor piece,\u2019 he explains during the press preview in Athens attended by designboom.<\/p>\n

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all images by \u00a9 Margarita Yoko Nikitaki, unless stated otherwise<\/p>\n

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when the city becomes part of the score<\/p>\n

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In Athens, the installation becomes an open system, set within the open-air setting of Onassis Mandra<\/a>, the surviving Belle \u00c9poque outdoor theater located beside the Onassis Library and Dionysiou Areopagitou. \u2018It needs to be perfectly balanced,\u2019 Boursier-Mougenot says of the work\u2019s relationship with its surroundings. \u2018It has to be perfect when there is no wind, no rain. And then if suddenly the breeze comes, it\u2019s going to be perfectly balanced.\u2019 A passing gust can alter the movement of the bowls; a change in light can transform the appearance of the water; rain can introduce another layer to the composition. The title of the work refers to the Epicurean concept of the clinamen, the unpredictable deviation in the movement of atoms, and this idea of small departures is central to how the installation operates.<\/p>\n

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Each porcelain bowl has been individually selected by Boursier-Mougenot for its particular timbre, allowing every collision to contribute a slightly different sound. As the bowls approach, separate, and meet again, they produce delicate, bell-like tones without the presence of a performer. There is no score to follow and no fixed sequence to repeat. It\u2019s the movement of the water that continuously generates the sound. \u2018For Boursier-Mougenot, this interest in movement goes back to his early relationship with music. \u2018I was fascinated by the movement, by the gesture, by the action, to produce sound,\u2019 he notes. \u2018The only message I want to convey is an invitation to inhabit a space that I have designed especially for them,\u2019 says Boursier-Mougenot.<\/p>\n

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The city remains audible around the pools. Traffic, voices, birds, footsteps, wind, and rain mingle with the sound of porcelain, so the installation never sounds the same twice. The weather becomes part of it too, with a sudden shower adding its own rhythm to the bowls moving across the water. The artist also sees chance as a recurring force in his wider practice. \u2018Many of my works have been made by coincidence,\u2019 he shares during the preview. \u2018It\u2019s crazy. I have many, many stories to tell.\u2019 In Athens, clinamen puts that idea to a new test, allowing an outdoor environment to introduce variables that previous presentations could largely control.<\/p>\n

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C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot\u2019s clinamen is moving outside<\/p>\n

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the French artist\u2019s endlessly shifting sound installation at Onassis Mandra in Athens | image \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n

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clinamen puts that idea to a new test in Athens | image \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n

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hundreds of white porcelain bowls drift across three circular pools | image \u00a9 designboom<\/p>\n

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each porcelain bowl has been individually selected by Boursier-Mougenot for its particular timbre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"C\u00c9LESTE BOURSIER-MOUGENOT TAKES CLINAMEN OUTDOORS in athens \u00a0 After floating through the grand interiors of Paris\u2019 Bourse de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,232207,1120,96,9143,40216,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-785022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-celeste-boursier-mougenot","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-interactive-installation","tag-sound-art","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}